TS Chantal Heading for the DR

Graphic: National Hurricane Center

HAVANA TIMES — Tropical Storm Chantal continued on its swift pace on Monday night, heading for a possible landing in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday after passing through the eastern Caribbean today, reports the National Hurricane Center.

The storm now packs 50 mph winds and is moving west-northwest at 26 mph.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, and the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to the Haiti border.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for: St. Vincent, US Virgin Islands, Vieques and Culebra, North coast of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas.

If the projected path holds it is difficult to predict the strength of Chantal after it interacts with land on Hispañola Island (Dominican Republic/Haiti). The storm could have some influence over far eastern/northeastern Cuba but it is too early to tell.