Hurricane Emily is growing more powerful as it moves through the Caribbean, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Thursday afternoon. Emily has become a category two hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, and could grow to become a category three storm later Thursday, dpa reported. The storm now has sustained winds of 175 kilometres per hour as it moves westward toward Jamaica after hitting Grenada. Emily, the fifth named storm this season and its second hurricane, could hit Jamaica early on Saturday, NHC predictions show. A tropical storm watch is in place for southern Haiti and parts of the Dominican Republic. This year marks the first time since records were kept that there have been five named storms this early in the season. Emily could hit Mexico with hurricane strength twice and the storm could also reach the southern tip of Texas. --SP 2326 Local Time 2026 GMT
