Hurricane Erin's massive footprint battered Caribbean islands with heavy gusts and downpours Monday, as it threatened rip currents and flooding along the US East Coast later this week even without a predicted landfall.

The Category 4 storm strengthened dramatically over the weekend in a historic burst of intensification scientists said was fueled by human-caused climate change. It briefly peaked as a Category 5 hurricane before weakening slightly.

In its latest advisory the US National Hurricane Center said the Atlantic season's first hurricane was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 miles (220 kilometers) per hour while moving northwest at 10 mph.

Erin is "unusually large," with hurricane force winds extending 80 miles and tropical storm winds extending 230 miles, the NHC said.

The

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