20:18 12Sep2003 PLATTS: Hurricane Isabel rages west over Atlantic Ocean

Miami (AFP)--12Sep2003/318 pm EDT/1918 GMT
Full-strength Hurricane Isabel was continuing its path westward Friday
toward
the central Antilles with maximum force winds blowing at 162 miles/hour,
according to the National Hurricane Center. Isabel became the first Atlantic
storm Thursday to reach maximum intensity, since Hurricane Mitch in 1998, as
the NHC upgraded Isabel to a Category Five hurricane on the Saffir-Simspon
storm scale. At 1500 hours GMT, Isabel's center was located some 373 miles
to
the east-northeast of the Caribbean's Leeward Islands, according to the
Miami-based NHC. Moving at 9 miles/hour, Isabel is expected to hit the open
seas to the north of Puerto Rico over the weekend, before heading north
toward
the Bahamas island group in the coming week. Though this projected
trajectory
would place Isabel closer to Florida's eastern shore, the NHC's Ricard Pasch
said: "It is just too early to talk about specific landfall scenarios,"
partly
because storm directions are not 100% predictable.

Friday, 12 September 2003 20:18:37[nPL5246573] {C}ENDS