The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two disturbances in the Atlantic—the first poised to approach the northern Leeward Islands later this week and the second near the Cabo Verde Islands—while Hurricane Erin, now a Category 3, heads away from the Caribbean.

It quickly powered up from a tropical storm to a Category 5 in a single day, the National Hurricane Center said.

While the compact hurricane's center wasn't expected to strike land, it threatened to dump flooding rains on the northeast Caribbean as it continued to grow larger.