Omar strengthens into major Category 3 hurricane - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Omar strengthens into major Category 3 hurricane
Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:17am EDT

By John Marino

SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Hurricane Omar strengthened into a major
Category 3 storm as it raced toward Puerto Rico and the small
islands of the northeastern Caribbean, threatening to bring
torrential rains that could trigger dangerous floods and mudslides
on Thursday.

The 15th tropical cyclone of a busy Atlantic hurricane season, Omar
formed north of the Dutch island of Curacao on Tuesday, briefly
disrupted oil operations in Venezuela and shut down processing units
at a refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Omar was a Category 3 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of
hurricane intensity, with sustained winds of near 120 miles per hour
(195 km per hour) as it passed between the Virgin Islands and the
northern Leeward Islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

-snip-

On its current track the storm would head into the open Atlantic
after passing through the Leeward Islands, posing no threat to the
United States.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49E03420081016