(Reuters) -Humberto rapidly strengthened into a category 3 hurricane and is expected to intensify further over the Central Atlantic in the next couple of days, the U.S. Hurricane Center said on Friday.

The hurricane was located about 430 miles (690 km) northeast of the northern Leeward Islands, packing maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour(185 km/hour).

"Swells generated by Humberto will begin affecting portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda this weekend," the Miami based forecaster added.

(Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)