Residents in Hawaii have been put on alert by the NOAA, who warned them the storm would gain in strength in the coming day. The huge storm has been hurtling across the Pacific over the last few days as it threatens to make landfall by the weekend. The now-hurricane has been gaining strength over the past few days as it grows in speed and size.

The huge storm has been hurtling across the Pacific over the last few days as it threatens to make landfall by the weekend.

The now-hurricane has been gaining strength over the past few days as it grows in speed and size.

Now the NOAA, the USA’s national hurricane centre, has issued an alert warning Tropical Storm Erick reached hurricane levels yesterday and became a major hurricane today.

The NOAA’s latest public advisory on Hurricane Erick reads: “At 5PM HST (0300 UTC), the centre of Hurricane Erick was located near latitude 12.7 North, longitude 140.0 West.

“Erick is moving towards the west near 18 mph (30 km/h).

“A west-northwest course at a slower forward speed is expected to begin on Tuesday and continue through Thursday.

“Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 75 mph (120 km/h)
with higher gusts.

“Some strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours before weakening is predicted to start late Wednesday.

“Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles (30 km) from the
centre and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles
(110 km).

“The estimated minimum central pressure is 990 mb (29.24 inches).”

More to follow…

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