KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - Cristobal strengthened into a hurricane in the Atlantic as it moved away from the Bahamas on Monday, leaving behind flooded communities across a swath of soaked Caribbean islands and at least three fatalities.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said that by Monday evening the hurricane was centered about 660 miles southwest of Bermuda. It had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and was tracking east at 2 mph.
Before strengthening into a hurricane, the storm flooded several communities across the Caribbean and halted flights in the drenched Turks & Caicos Islands. Government offices and banks were shuttered Monday on the low-lying islands that are highly vulnerable to flooding from heavy rains and storm surge, and authorities said many homes were flooded, especially on North and Middle Caicos islands.
Officials in Turks & Caicos said some 12 inches of rain had been dumped since Friday.
The storm was moving north-northeastward as it pulled away from the Bahamas archipelago, but it was forecast to curve away from the U.S. East Coast.
In the Bahamas, government meteorologists warned that severe thunderstorms from the storm's outer bands posed threats Monday to Mayaguana, Acklins and a few other islands and they called for boaters to return to port and residents to stay indoors.
On the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, two Dominican men drowned and two Haitians went missing when they were caught up in waterways swollen by Cristobal's driving rains. Authorities said they were still searching for the two Haitians missing since late Saturday in Saint Marc.