Monday, August 22, 2011

NAGUA, Dominican Republic (AP) -- A rapidly strengthening Hurricane Irene cut a destructive path through the Caribbean on Monday, pounding Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with strong winds and rain as it followed a track that could carry it to the U.S. Southeast by the end of the week.

Irene grew into a Category 2 hurricane late Monday and the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said it could become a monstrous Category 3 storm as early as Tuesday. Forecasters said it could still be that strong when it passes over the Bahamas and slams into the United States, possibly landing in Florida, South Carolina or Georgia.

Earlier, the storm slashed directly across Puerto Rico, tearing up trees and knocking out power to more than a million people, then headed out to sea north of the Dominican Republic, where the powerful storm's outer bands were buffeting the north coast with dangerous sea surge and downpours.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic season was a large system that could cause dangerous mudslides and floods in Dominican Republic, the hurricane center said. It was not expected to make a direct hit on neighboring Haiti, though that country could still see heavy rain from the storm.

Dominican officials said the government had emergency food available for 1.5 million people if needed and the country's military and public safety brigades were on alert.

"We have taken all precautions," presidential spokesman Rafael Nunez said.

Irene is forecast to grow into a Category 3 hurricane as early as Tuesday as it moves over the warm waters of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas, and could maintain that strength as it nears the U.S. coast.

Florida residents were urged to ensure they had batteries, drinking water, food and other supplies.

"We must prepare for the worst and hope for the best," said Joe Martinez, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Commission.

Officials in Charleston, South Carolina, also warned residents to monitor Irene closely. It has been six years since a hurricane hit the South Carolina coast, said Joe Farmer of the state Emergency Management Division.

Police and civil protection officials in the Dominican Republic made their way along the beaches of the country's northern coast to warn people away from the surging sea. Resorts pulled up the umbrellas and lounge chairs as the storm made its way toward the country. At the Wyndham Tangerine, a hotel in the resort area of Sosua and Cabarete, the staff converted a conference room into a temporary storm refuge for 300 people, said deputy general manager Karen Gonzalez.

Jose Manuel Mendez, director of the country's Emergency Operations Center, said that only about 135 people were in public shelters, but that hundreds of others were staying with friends and family to avoid the storm, which was expected to drop as much as 14 inches (35 centimeters) at higher elevations.

The 100 tourists who booked an ocean-view room at a Puerto Plata resort were moved to another building on Monday for their safety, said Medardo Carrera, manager for VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort, and the hotel ordered its 450 guests to stay inside their rooms Monday night.

At the nearby Casa Colonial Beach & Spa, several tourists packed their bags and fled ahead of the storm, hoping to catch one of the last flights for Miami, said concierge Zadaliy Placido.

The hurricane earlier cut power to more than a million people in Puerto Rico, downing trees and flooding streets on Monday. There were no reports of deaths or major injuries on the island, but Gov. Luis Fortuno declared a state of emergency and urged people to stay indoors to avoid downed power lines, flooded streets and other hazards.

During the storm's march through the region, Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet and others escaped uninjured when a blaze gutted Richard Branson's home on his private isle in the British Virgin Islands during Irene's march through the region.

According to Branson, about 20 people, including Winslet and her young children, were staying in his eight-bedroom Great House on Necker Island when the fire broke out around 4 a.m. amid the storm's lightning and high winds.

By Monday evening, Irene was centered about 130 miles (210 kms) east of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph). It was expected to pass near or over the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In the overseas U.K. territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands, located in the Atlantic between the Bahamas and Haiti, there was a steady stream of customers buying plywood and nails at hardware stores, while others readied storm shutters and emergency kits at home.

"I can tell you I don't want this storm to come. It looks like it could get bad, so I've definitely got to get my boats out of the water," said Dedrick Handfield at the North Caicos hardware store where he works.

In the Bahamian capital of Nassau, Henry Vera, of Long Island, New York, said the approaching hurricane will not cause him to cut his vacation short in Cable Beach, where he and his girlfriend are booked at a hotel until Sunday.

"I've never been in a hurricane before so I have no idea what to expect," the 29-year-old Mineola resident said. "But I'm not going to leave early, I still have a week off work and I'm still on vacation."

In Puerto Rico, 600 crews spread out across the island to repair toppled light poles, and the majority of customers were expected to have power by late Monday, power company spokesman Carlos Monroig said. Schools, most government offices and many businesses remained closed. Flights resumed at the international airport in San Juan by midmorning.

The storm entered through the southeast coastal town of Humacao, but emergency management regional director Orlando Diaz said the damage seemed to be less than he feared.

"We thought things were going to be a bit more tragic," he said. "I was surprised that we didn't see the amount of rain I expected."
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent, who was reported arrested by rebels on Sunday when they advanced on the capital Tripoli, is free.

Seif al-Islam turned up in the early morning hours Tuesday at the Rixos hotel, where foreign journalists are staying in Tripoli under the close watch of Gadhafi regime minders. He then took reporters in a convoy on a drive through parts of the city under the regime's control.

Associated Press reporters were among the journalists who saw him and went on the tour. He told the reporters: "We are going to hit the hottest spots in Tripoli."

They then drove around streets full of armed Gadhafi backers, and controlled by roadblocks. They visited several sites where Gadhafi supporters were gathered.

Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro was held out of the starting lineup Monday night against Atlanta, one night after television cameras caught him not paying attention in the field as a pitch was thrown.

"It's a mental day off," Chicago manager Mike Quade said during a long pregame press conference at which Castro was pretty much the only topic of discussion.

"I was real disappointed. He understands that. We'll see how the next day or so goes. We'll take it one day at a time. He's got a lot of work to do in terms of bearing down and concentrating."

The pitch in question occurred during the sixth inning of Sunday night's 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. As reliever James Russell went into his motion and delivered to Daniel Descalso, Castro kicked at the dirt and then walked toward the outfield, never looking toward home plate when the pitch was thrown.

"When I saw Russ' pitch when he wasn't on board yet, that was the thing that got me more than anything," Quade said. "People stay loose different ways and approach each pitch different ways, but the fact that he wasn't prepared for Russ' pitch was the main thing."

ESPN aired a clip of the play the next inning and commentator Bobby Valentine spent nearly seven minutes haranguing Castro and the Cubs' inability to get him to focus. Quade said he didn't hear any of Valentine's comments.

"I don't listen to Bobby very much," Quade said. "I looked at everything with the mute on. That's kind of what I do. I don't want any outside influences. I want to know exactly what I see and make up my own decisions.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime appears to be nearing collapse, but the colonel himself has apparently gone underground.

U.S. officials say they believe he is still in Libya, but if they have any more precise fix on his whereabouts, they aren't sharing the details.

In a briefing Monday afternoon on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., where President Barack Obama is vacationing with his family, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the "best information" indicated that the Libyan strongman was still in Libya, whereabouts unknown.

"That's the latest," Mr. Earnest said. "There's no evidence to indicate that he's left."

Dia Alhutmany, a spokesman for the rebel-aligned Libyan Mission to the United Nations in New York, said Col. Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, once seen as his possible successor, had been captured and was in rebel hands. It wasn't immediately possible to confirm cable reports that Seif el-Islam had turned up at a Tripoli hotel later Monday. He said another son, Mohammed, had been captured, but may have escaped rebel custody.

Mr. Alhutmany wasn't able to confirm reports of the capture of a third son, Saadi, and added that another son, Mutassim, may have escaped to the city of Sabha in the south.

Clashes were reported Monday around Col. Gadhafi's Tripoli compound. The colonel has held power for more than four decades, alternately defying and courting the West. He survived U.S. airstrikes in the 1980s after being linked to the bombing of a Berlin disco popular with American service members.

During the George W. Bush administration, he won renewed relations with the U.S. by agreeing to give up his quest for weapons of mass destruction.