Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season and has developed into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane, moves westward near Puerto Rico in a composite satellite image August 16, 2025. CIRA/NOAA/Handout via REUTERS
A satallite imagery shows Hurricane Erin, which the U.S. National Hurricane Center says has intensified into a category 2 hurricane, in this screengrab from a handout video from over Atlantic Ocean August 15, 2025. CSU/CIRA & NOAA/Handout via REUTERS

By Rishabh Jaiswal and Preetika Parashuraman

(Reuters) -Hurricane Erin, the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season, has become a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Saturday.

The storm was about 175 miles (285 km) northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h).

The NHC forecast Erin would turn west-northwest on Saturday night and slow its advance, then turn northward early next week. A slow weakening was expected to begin on Monday.

The NHC had previously said it expected Erin to strengthen into next week.

The hurricane's center was forecast to pass north of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico through Sunday and move to the east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas on Sunday night and Monday.

Swells generated by Erin will affect portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands through the weekend, the NHC said.

The swells will spread to the Bahamas, Bermuda and the East Coast of the United States early next week, it said.

The Bahamas, which provides some meteorological services for the Turks and Caicos Islands, issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the British islands to its southeast.

Erin has also raised concerns about wildfire risks if human-caused sparks ignite parched vegetation and strong dry winds fan the flames. BMS Group Senior Meteorologist Andrew Siffert said these conditions could arise if Erin grows into a powerful offshore storm fueled by colliding warm and cold air rather than tropical seas.

Insurance-linked securities manager Twelve Securis said on Friday that Erin was forecast to remain far enough offshore to spare the U.S. East Coast from significant impacts.

Erin is expected to produce areas of heavy rainfall through Sunday across the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, the NHC said.

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal, Preetika Parashuraman and Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru.Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Matthew Lewis and Cynthia Osterman)