Caribbean Hurricane Strengthens; 6 Die

Residents of the northeastern Caribbean resort islands boarded up their homes and stocked emergency supplies Friday as Hurricane Klaus strengthened off the coast of Antigua, weather officials said.

At the same time, the storm dumped more rain on the French island of Martinique to the south, where flooding has caused at least six deaths and left two missing and 1,500 temporarily homeless.

Klaus, the 11th named storm and sixth hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season, was upgraded from a tropical storm Friday when its winds increased to 80 m.p.h. from 60. Tropical storms become hurricanes when winds reach a sustained speed of 74 m.p.h.

The hurricane was 60 miles northeast of Antigua, a popular vacation and yachting resort 250 miles southeast of Puerto Rico. Forecasters said the system was drifting slowly northwest after being stalled for most of the morning.

It was unclear if the storm would reach the United States.

“Possible. Certainly people ought to pay attention to it, but it’s a long way away,” Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said of Klaus’ chances of striking the U.S. coast.

Within two or three days, Klaus probably will be north of Puerto Rico and east of the Bahamas, but it won’t threaten the U.S. mainland “certainly through the weekend,” he said.

Hurricane warnings remained in effect for the northern Leeward Islands stretching from the French and Dutch island of St. Martin-St. Maarten in the north to the British colony of Montserrat in the south. A hurricane watch, a lower-grade advisory, was issued Friday for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.

Antigua was being buffeted by high winds and intermittent rain Friday. Some zinc roofs were ripped from houses, but there were no reports of major damage or injuries.

Antigua’s international airport was closed, and government-run ABS radio said schools were closed and residents were stocking up on supplies. Later, both ABS and station ZDK were knocked off the air by the winds.

At the Halcyon Cove Beach Resort & Casino, personnel manager Sonyia Grant said the hotel was fully booked with 200 guests. If necessary, she said, all would be moved into the casino to wait out the hurricane.

Grant said the mood was mainly one of excitement.

“The sea is rolling in a bit, nothing too rough, nothing to be alarmed about,” she said.

On Dutch St. Maarten, traffic jams built up in the capital of Philipsburg and long lines formed outside groceries and hardware stores as residents stocked up on supplies. Schools were closed, and many people stayed home to board up windows.

In Anguilla, a tiny British colony of 7,500, Gov. Brian Canty said the island began hurricane preparations Thursday.

“All government offices are now battened down, and we have put our emergency plan into effect,” he said. “Insofar as it is possible to work normally with all our hurricane shutters up . . . it is business as usual.”