"A strengthening Hurricane Irene eased away from the northwestern Caribbean on Monday, leaving nearly one million people in the dark in Puerto Rico, a billionaire’s mansion torched by lightning in the British Virgin Islands and fears of a dark night of drenching rain and floods across Hispaniola."

"Unfortunately, that appeared to be only a warm-up for worse.

At 8 p.m, National Hurricane Center reported Irene’s sustained winds had jumped to 100 mph, Category 2 level. Over the next few days, forecasters expect the storm to grow more dangerous and damaging, on track to rake the Bahamas from bottom to top as it intensifies into a major Category 3 hurricane by Thursday afternoon. At that point, the official forecast track would put Irene — potentially churning 115 mph winds — near Andros Island and about 130 miles southeast of Miami and Fort Lauderdale."

Curtis Morgan, Frances Robles and Jacqueline Charles report for the Miami Herald August 22, 2011. [2]