Tropical Storm Kirk is expected to drop heavy rains that could bring dangerous flooding to the eastern Caribbean, U.S. forecasters said Thursday. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm's center was just east of Barbados. It had maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour (kph) and was moving ahead at 26 kph. Tropical storm-force winds were blowing as far as 225 kilometers from Kirk's center. A tropical-storm warning was in effect for the islands of Barbados, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. The storm's center will move across the eastern Caribbean Sea by Thursday evening, according to its current track. The NHC expects the storm to gradually weaken into a tropical depression after it crosses the Lesser Antilles island chain.
