Hurricane Dorian now a major storm

Dorian brought flooding and power outages to the Virgin Islands and the Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra as a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday. Forecasters said it could grow to a dangerous Category 4 storm by Labor Day as it heads toward the U.S. mainland. The hurricane has top sustained winds near 80 mph and was centered 60 miles northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Where is Dorian headed next? Forecasters said it could hit anywhere along a 500-mile stretch of coast from the Florida Keys to southern Georgia on Sunday or Monday. County governments along Florida’s east-central coast distributed sandbags Thursday. The storm is expected to dump 6 to 8 inches of rain on Puerto Rico, but the island was spared any heavy wind or rain and saw limited damage.

Dig deeper: Track Hurricane Dorian’s progress at the National Hurricane Center.