Latest on progress of Hurricane Earl through Caribbean

(31 Aug 2010) San Juan, Puerto Rico - 31 August 2010 1. Wide of rough sea 2. Various of surfers in rough sea Miami, Florida - 31 August 2010 3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Bill Read, National Hurricane Centre Director: "We are still a Category 4. We still have a powerful hurricane out there with 135 mph winds persist. It's a fairly large storm, and most of the time as these storms move north they grow in area. So, we'll be looking at a large circulation feature moving across the Atlantic Ocean just off east coast of the U.S. right on through to Saturday." Providenciales, Turks and Caicos - 31 August 2010 4. Various of people at the marina securing their boats (++ MUTE++) 5. Car with boat on trailer driving off Providenciales, Turks and Caicos - 30 August 2010 6. People buying groceries San Juan, Puerto Rico - 31 August 2010 7. Various of boats entering the harbour after it was reopened STORYLINE Hurricane Earl delivered a glancing blow to several small Caribbean islands on Monday, tearing roofs off homes and cutting electricity to people in Anguilla, Antigua, and St. Maarten. Cruise ships were diverted and flights cancelled across the region. But there were no reports of deaths or injury. Gusty winds from Earl's outer fringes were whipping palm fronds and whistling through doors as Turks and Caicos Islands residents hunkered down in their homes, and tied-down boats seesawed on white-crested surf. Forecasters said it was too early to say what effect Earl would have in the U.S., but warned it could at least kick up dangerous rip currents. A surfer died in Florida and a Maryland swimmer had been missing since Saturday in waves spawned by former Hurricane Danielle, which weakened to a tropical storm Monday far out in the north Atlantic. The storm's centre passed just north of the British Virgin Islands on Monday afternoon. By midday Tuesday, Earl's centre was about 170 miles (275 kilometres) east of Grand Turk island as it headed west-northwest at 14 mph (22 kph), according to the hurricane centre. Tropical storm conditions were expected to spread into the Turks and Caicos by Tuesday afternoon. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...