Hanna Could Be Next Threat To U.S.

Hanna, the eighth named storm of the hurricane season, strengthened into a hurricane Monday in the Atlantic Ocean.

That made it the fourth hurricane of the season, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Long-term projections show the storm could come ashore along the border of Georgia and South Carolina late in the week.

"Right now, the uncertainty is such that it could hit anywhere from Miami to the outer banks of North Carolina," said Jessica Schauer Clark, a meteorologist at the hurricane center. "So people really need to keep an eye on it."

At 11 p.m. Eastern, Hanna was about 90 miles west-northwest of Grand Turk Island. Hanna has moved little in the past few hours but a northwestward motion toward the central Bahamas is expected to begin late Tuesday.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the central and southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands. A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are expected within the warning with the next 24 hours.

Hanna's maximum sustained winds increased from 75 mph earlier Monday to 80 mph. Little change in strength is forecast during the next 24 hour, the hurricane center said.

Winds Hit Tourist Islands

"The storm's on top of us right now and it's blowing really hard," said Miguel Campbell, a mechanic with the Bahamas Electricity Corp. on the island of Mayaguana, the easternmost in the Bahamas, where some 300 people were hunkered down at home or in a government shelter.

Hanna was expected to bring up to 12 inches of rain to the Turks chain, a popular tourist destination with about 22,000 people.

Tourists Jason and Carolina Volpi were out of luck as they tried to leave. The Providenciales airport was shut down and all flights were canceled. They couldn't get seats out until Thursday, too late to attend business meetings back in Italy.

"The situation is very frustrating," Jason Volpi, 36, said as they waited under darkening skies for a taxi back to their hotel.