After several days of struggling to gather

momentum, Hurricane Isaias has formed just after midnight Friday (July 31),

becoming the second major storm as it barrels towards sections of The Bahamas

and Florida this weekend.

According to a 1:00 am Eastern Standard

Time (EST) advisory from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Isaias was

located near latitude 20.6 North, longitude 72.7 West—or 70 kilometres southeast

of Great Iguana Island.

The second hurricane of the 2020 north Atlantic season is currently packing maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometres/hour, with higher gusts; the massive storm continues to creep northwest at 30 kilometres/hour.

The entire commonwealth of the Bahamas –

from the northwest to the southeast – has been placed on a hurricane warning,

just as the country still recovers from the devastating aftermath of the

passage of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

The NHC further indicated that the tropical

storm warning remains in effect for the entire north and south coastline of

Dominican Republic; Turks and Caicos Islands; as well as the north coast of

Haiti, stretching from Môle Saint-Nicolas eastward to the border with Dominican

Republic.

A tropical storm watch also stays in place for the east coast of Florida, from Ocean Reef to Sebastian Inlet as well as Lake Okeechobee.

On the forecast track, the NHC, noting that

conditions are favourable for Isaias to remain a hurricane for the next couple

of days, expects the centre the massive system will move near or over the

southeast Bahamas overnight.

“Isaias is forecast to be near the central

Bahamas Friday night and move near or over the northwest Bahamas and near south

Florida on Saturday,” the US-based NHC advised.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to

45 kilometres from Isaias’ centre and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward

up to 390 kilometres, the agency added.