Hurricane Erin is threatening the same Caribbean regions devastated by Hurricane Beryl last year.

Around this time in 2024, governments and disaster relief officials were struggling to assist affected residents battered by Hurricane Beryl as it came ashore as the earliest storm on record in the East and Northern Caribbean.

Back then at the end of June and in early July, Beryl had wreaked havoc on the Grenadian sister islands of Petite Martinique and Carriacou, neighboring St. Vincent, St Lucia and Barbados before strengthening and moving away to as far north as Jamaica where is also had caused severe damage to homes and the power grid.

Now, Erin is on her way through the Caribbean — this time sparing Jamaica as it prepares for national elections on Sept. 3. Erin is setting her sights on Bermuda and The Bahamas, with the neighboring Turks and Caicos Islands also expected to be impacted by outer band winds and strong seas.

The expected visit of Erin has forced governments and disaster preparedness officials across the Caribbean to step up preparations for the Category 4 storm as the work week began with Hispaniola which houses Haiti and The Dominican Republic, The US Virgin Islands, The Bahamas and Bermuda all placing citizens on alert as the storm intensifies.

In The Bahamas, officials said that current models do not forecast a direct hit to the main tourism island as projections show that Erin will pass north of the southeastern portion of the archipelago. Still, experts asked citizens of Inagua, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island, Samana Cay, and Long Cay to be on full alert and be prepared to head to shelters should conditions worsen. Disaster agency officials had also moved some residents from Samana Cay at the weekend as a precaution against high winds and storm surges.

The archipelago suffered severe damage from Category 5 Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, leveling many homes and buildings in the Grand Bahamas and Abaco. Six years after the storm came ashore, efforts are still being made to replace some structures.

Godfrey Greene, the deputy director of meteorology in the Bahamas, told reporters on Sunday that a large area, including neighboring islands, is likely to be impacted.

“Erin’s outer bands are producing gusty winds, heavy rains, and thunderstorms across the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico,” Greene said. “On the forecast track, the center of Erin is expected to pass to the east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeast Bahamas Sunday night and Monday. Residents in the southeast Bahamas should begin to make preparations for tropical storm conditions for Monday morning. Rainfall in the amount of three to six inches, with isolated amounts of eight inches is expected from the outer bands of Erin.”

Bahamas Air has already cancelled flights to the island expected to be impacted. Services should resume by midweek, providing there is no aviation infrastructural damage, officials said.

In the mid-Atlantic, authorities in Bermuda also placed the British colony on alert as the storm is expected to impact the island if current projections hold true. The local weather services says that Erin will visit with “life-threatening surf”, triggering rip currents in the area.

Meanwhile, major international cruise liners out of Florida are already cancelling routine stops to Bermuda. Carnival Sunshine is avoiding the island with its sailing from Virginia, and port calls scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday are being scrubbed as a precautionary measure.

Royal Caribbean has followed suit with its Vision of the Seas mega ship, avoiding the island for most of this week until it is safe to call again.

American forecasters have suggested there is a 50% chance of an above-normal season for 2025, with 13-18 named storms popping up on radars this year, with winds of 40 miles per hour or greater. Up to nine can become major hurricanes, stated NOAA, the major US weather monitoring agency.