© Chris Brandis/Associated PressA woman walks by damaged power lines and infrastructure after the storm hit St. James parish, Barbados, on Saturday.
The Category 2 storm was packing winds of 155 km/h when it made landfall. It tore the roofs from homes and knocked out electricity all over the island. But as the storm moved northwest over the Caribbean early Sunday, the winds were clocked at 150 km/h.
St. Lucia, Barbados and Martinique were tallying the damage done by Tomas earlier Saturday. Torrential rain made a number of roads impassible in Barbados and high winds destroyed roofs in several communities.
Authorities in St. Vincent said they had unconfirmed reports that three people died during the storm, including two men who might have been blown off a roof.
Jimmy Prince, emergency management spokesman for St. Vincent, said fierce winds tore roofs from nearly 100 homes as the island plunged into darkness.
Forecasters had initially predicted Thomas would intensify to a Category 3 hurricane by Tuesday, when it is expected to pass south of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They later issued an update saying the storm could weaken slightly more Sunday, but should maintain most of its strength into Tuesday.
It was over open ocean Sunday, 550 kilometres south-southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Thomas is the 12th hurricane of the 2010 hurricane season.
Source: The Associated Press
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