Irene strengthens to a Category 2 as it spins toward the Bahamas, U.S.

CNN) -

The first Atlantic hurricane of 2011 strengthened to a Category 2 late Monday as it stormed through the Caribbean, churning just north of the Dominican Republic.

Projections called for Hurricane Irene to skirt the storm-killing mountains of the Dominican Republic and Haiti and continue strengthening as it approaches the Southeast United States by the weekend, said the National Hurricane Center.

Irene became a Category 2 hurricane Monday evening, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph. The storm could become a Category 3, also known as a major, hurricane, on Tuesday, when it is expected to pass near or over the Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas, forecasters said.

"The storm was already stronger than we were forecasting. We noted an upward trend in our intensity forecast. Bringing it up to a Category 3 in 24 hours when it's over the southeast Bahamas and then showing the system approaching Category 4 strength thereafter as it starts to move northwestward," said John Cangialosi, a specialist with the Miami-based Hurricane Center.

Irene grew into a hurricane early Monday, bringing heavy rain and winds to Puerto Rico, where Gov. Luis Fortuno said the storm had set off numerous landslides, brought down trees and caused at least five rivers to overflow their banks.

Some 600,000 of the island's 1 million electricity customers were without power, Fortuno said. Nearly 800 people were in shelters, but no injuries had been reported. The main airport in San Juan had reopened, but seaports in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands remained closed, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
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