Caribbean governments issued safety alerts Wednesday as Tropical Storm Emily hurtled toward their islands – the second major storm in the region in less than a week.
The US National Hurricane Center said tropical storm warnings had been issued in Barbados, Tobago, Grenada, the Grenadines, St Vincent, St Lucia and much of the northern coast of Venezuela.
But the center said Emily was not strengthening and it ended hurricane alerts.
In Grenada, where 50,000 people remain without permanent homes 10 months after Hurricane Ivan, there were widespread fears about the new storm but Civil Emergencies director Sylvan McIntyre said the government "urges the public against panicking."
Nick Bruce of the Crisis Shield aid group said "there is a lot of nervousness, especially among the homeless who are living on the ruins left by Hurricane Ivan, or living with family and friends."
In Tobago, Crown Point International Airport was closed and all international flights to the island have been rerouted, the government said.
Authorities halted sea transport between Trinidad and Tobago.
At 1800 GMT, Emily was about 210 kilometers (130 miles) southeast of Barbados and 240km (150 miles) northeast of Trinidad, heading west toward the Windward islands.
With maximum sustained winds of nearly 60 miles (95km) per hour "it now appears unlikely that Emily will reach hurricane strength before it clears the Windward Islands," said the US National Hurricane Center.
But it still predicted rainfall of three to six inches (7.6 to 15 centimeters) across the Windward Islands and portions of northern Venezuela.
