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Gonzalo to become major hurricane over open Atlantic waters on Tuesday


    SAN JUAN Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Hurricane Gonzalo is expected to become a major hurricane on Tuesday as it moves over the open Atlantic waters and swirls away from the northern Caribbean islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

    The center of Gonzalo, a Category 2 hurricane, was moving northwest, away from the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, prompting storm alerts for those areas to be lifted.

    The French government also listed tropical storm warnings for the islands of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, the Miami-based hurricane center said.

    Most forecasts showed Gonzalo posing no threat to the mainland United States and moving still further north into the Atlantic, and could hit Bermuda late Friday.

    Gonzalo is the sixth hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs through the end of November. Forecasters in August predicted lower than usual activity for the season, with seven to 12 named storms and no more than two reaching major hurricane status.

    Gonzalo was about 390 miles (625 km) east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and packed sustained winds reaching 110 miles per hour (175 km per hour) on Tuesday, the center said.

    Dangerous rip currents from the storm's swells were likely to affect the Virgin Islands, the northern coast of Puerto Rico and parts of the Bahamas, forecasters said.

    The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico experienced only light to moderate rain and wind gusts on Tuesday, and no significant damage or loss of power was reported.

    "The rain has not been significant and there have been no strong winds reported," said National Weather Center meteorologist Jesus Figuera Tuesday morning, adding the hurricane's outer rain bands could affect the island until early Wednesday.

    Public schools were ordered closed for Tuesday in the eastern portion of Puerto Rico, but officials emphasized the move was precautionary. Public schools remained open elsewhere, and government offices were slated to be functioning normally throughout the island.

    On Monday, Gonzalo's heavy rains and high winds destroyed several fishing boats, blew off roofs and downed power lines in Antigua and Barbuda.

    Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne ordered schools closed for a national cleanup effort on Tuesday to get the nation "fully back in business" by Wednesday.

    (Reporting by Colleen Jenkins, David Adams, and Reuters in San Juan; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Marguerita Choy)