Hurricane Irene Warning in Effect for The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos

According to the National Hurricane Center, the Government of The Bahamas has changed the Hurricane Irene watch for the Northwestern Bahamas to a hurricane warning as of early Tuesday morning. There are also warnings in effect for the Southeastern and Central Bahamas as well as Turks and Caicos Islands.

In fact, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation issued a statement around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday warning those with plans to travel to The Bahamas within the next five days to contact their hotel, airline or cruise line to postpone travel.

As the storm moves through the country, airports will be closed. Some in the Southeastern Bahamas have been closed already and Nassau's Lynden Pindling Airport is scheduled to close on Wednesday.

The government of the Dominican Republic has changed a hurricane warning along the north coast of the Dominican Republic to a tropical storm warning. The tropical storm warning for the south coast of Haiti has been discontinued while a hurricane watch remains in effect from the north coast of Haiti to the Dominican Republic border.

As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, Irene was located by an Air Force Reserve Hunter aircraft and was seen moving toward the west-northwest at roughly 12 mph. This general motion is expected to continue through Tuesday night, followed by a turn toward the northwest on Wednesday.

Keep visiting www.travelagentcentral.com for more updates on Hurricane Irene.