ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC) – Four people are confirmed dead as Tropical Storm Erika unleashed its fury on the island on Thursday.

The police report that three of the deaths occurred during a mudslide in the southeastern end of the island where they recovered the bodies of an elderly visually impaired man and two children from a house.

The fourth death occurred in the capital when a man’s body was found near his home following a mudslide.

On Thursday afternoon, heavy wind and rain have continued to buffet the island and 80 per cent of the island remains without electricity and water.

In the latest forcast from the Miami based National Hurricane Center, the centre of Tropical Storm Erika was located near latitude 16.5 North, longitude 63.8 West.

A turn toward the west-northwest is forecast later today, and this general motion should continue for the next 48 hours.

On the forecast track, the centre of Erika will move near the Virgin Islands on Thursda afternoon, move near or over Puerto Rico in the night , and move near or over the Dominican Republic on Friday.

Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 45 mph with higher gusts.  Little change in strength is forecast during the next 48 hours.

Meanwhile the government of Antigua and Barbuda has discontinued the Tropical Storm Warning for the island,  while the government of the Dominican Republic has extended the Tropical Storm Watch southward to Isla Saona.

Tropical Storm Warnings remain for  Anguilla,Saba and St Eustatius, St Maarten, St Barthelemy, St Kitts and Nevis ,Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra,US Virgin Islands,British Virgin Islands

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Guadeloupe, the Dominican Republic from the northern border with Haiti eastward  and southward to Isla Saona,southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.