Forecasters are keeping a close eye on Hurricane Matthew, which they said could impact The Bahamas by early next week.
"The National Hurricane Center expects the system to cross over eastern Cuba and enter Bahamian waters late Monday into Tuesday, which would put it just south of the Ragged Island chain," Senior Meteorological Officer Gregory Thompson said last night.

"This is a storm that we should not take very lightly considering what we had with Hurricane Joaquin last year.

"For the last 24 hours we have been advising residents in the central and southeast Bahamas in particular to continue to monitor the progress of this system, as this system is expected to move into our area possibly as a category one hurricane."

Thompson said the storm could either move quickly through The Bahamas or progress slowly over the chain of islands
"That's a scenario we don't want to happen because all islands will experience it," Thompson said.

"It's a storm to watch."

He reiterated that Bahamian and Turks Islanders should monitor the system closely and have hurricane plans in place.

In its 6 p.m. advisory yesterday, the Department of Meteorology said Hurricane Matthew was heading toward the central Caribbean Sea.

At 5 p.m., the center of the hurricane was about 150 miles north-northeast of Curacao.

It was moving toward the west near 17 miles per hour.

Maximum sustained winds were near 75 miles per hour with higher gusts. Gradual strengthening was expected during the next 48 hours.

"During the weekend, we expect Matthew to make an abrupt right turn to the north and northwest," according to AccuWeather Tropical Meteorologist Edward Vallee.

People in Jamaica and Haiti, followed by eastern Cuba, and later the Turks and Caicos and The Bahamas should be prepared for deteriorating weather, which could feature hurricane conditions from Sunday into early next week. In many of these areas, damaging winds, coastal flooding, flash flooding and mudslides from Matthew will threaten lives and property, AccuWeather advised on its online site.

Should it remain on its current trajectory, Matthew would be the first hurricane to impact The Bahamas since Joaquin devastated several islands last October.

Long Island, Crooked Island, Acklins, San Salvador, Rum Cay and others were all impacted.

Some residents on those islands are continuing the building process nearly one year later.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian