Hurricane Frances growing stronger and weaker

Central North Carolina was drenched Monday by the remains of Tropical Storm Gaston, the fourth named storm to strike the state this month, as thousands of customers in the Carolinas waited for their power to be restored.

Up to 6 inches of rain was likely in parts of North Carolina and flash flood warnings were posted. The storm already had poured as much as 10 inches on the Charleston, S.C., area on Sunday after blowing ashore.

While the Carolinas cleared away downed trees and waited for flooded streets to drain, residents were being told to keep an eye on Hurricane Frances, a powerful storm heading across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean with 120 mph wind, says ABC News.

According to the USA Today, expecting a brush with Hurricane Frances, some Puerto Ricans hurried to put up metal storm shutters Monday to shield homes from ferocious winds that could uproot trees and tear roofs apart.

"If it comes, they'll give us 24 hours' warning. The more we've done, the less work it will be when it gets here," said Jesus Gimenez, a 52-year-old teacher who put up storm shutters on a hillside house in eastern Puerto Rico and stocked up on groceries from evaporated milk to bottled water.

Forecasts put the storm anywhere from Cuba to the Carolinas by the end of the week, but, in the words of Richard Pasch, one of the Center's hurricane specialists, The bad news for The Bahamas and the Florida Peninsula is that there is no significant" change likely in the winds that are steering Frances.

This lack of a major change in the steering winds is "the consensus" of the various computer models that the Center's forecasters use, he said.

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