16:29 12Sep2003 RTRS-Isabel still a huge storm, U.S. impact uncertain

MIAMI, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Raging Hurricane Isabel, a rare and powerful
Atlantic storm with 160-mph (260-kph) winds, remained far out at sea on
Friday and forecasters said they were still uncertain about its possible
impact on the U.S. eastern seaboard.
The long-range forecast issued by the U.S. National Hurricane Center,
which has a wide margin of error, put the Category 5 hurricane several
hundred miles east of the central Florida coast by next Wednesday, headed
in the general direction of the southern U.S. states.
On that track, the storm would have little impact on the Caribbean,
skirting the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico to the north and moving east of
the Bahamas.
Category 5 hurricanes are the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson scale
of intensity and are capable of widespread destruction if they hit land.
Only three have hit the U.S. mainland since 1900, according to National
Hurricane Center records -- the unnamed storm of 1935 in the Florida Keys,
Camille in 1969 on the Gulf coast, and Andrew, which became the costliest
natural disaster in U.S. history when it hit the Miami area in 1992.
At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), the center of Isabel was about 370 miles (595
km) northeast of the northern Leeward Islands at latitude 21.6 north and
longitude 57.8 west, the National Hurricane Center said.
The system was moving west at about 9 mph (14 kph) and was expected to
stay on that course for the next day, forecasters said.
The projected track would take it several hundred miles north of the
northern Caribbean islands but forecasters cautioned residents of Puerto
Rico, the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Antigua and the other Leeward Islands to
expect dangerous surf conditions over the next few days.
U.S. hurricane hunter aircraft were scheduled to fly into Isabel later
on Friday to get more accurate measurements of wind speeds, forward motion
and internal pressure.
Isabel was the first Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic and Caribbean
region since 1998, when Hurricane Mitch devastated parts of Central America.


Friday, 12 September 2003 16:29:47
RTRS [nNAJL91201] {EN}
ENDS