Puerto Rico Braces As Tropical Storm Bertha Rolls Through Caribbean

This NOAA satellite image taken Friday, Aug. 1, 2014, at 1:45 p.m. EDT shows a mass of clouds associated with Tropical Storm Bertha near the Lesser Antilles with most of the clouds and rain displayed to the east of the storm center. Clouds are prevalent over the Bahamas with some scattered rain and thunderstorms. Scattered storms are occurring over isolated portions of Hispaniola and Cuba. (AP Photo/Weather Underground)

Tropical Storm Bertha pushed just south of Puerto Rico on Saturday as it unleashed heavy rains and strong winds across the region, knocking out power on some islands in the eastern Caribbean.

The storm's maximum sustained winds held at 50 mph (85 kph), and slow strengthening was expected by Sunday night. Bertha was centered about 90 miles (150 kilometers) south-southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico and was moving west-northwest at 22 mph (35 kph) late Saturday morning.

The storm was expected to pass near southwest Puerto Rico and possibly over the eastern Dominican Republic on Saturday night. As much as 3 to 5 inches (8-13 centimeters) of rain was forecast for Puerto Rico, with isolated amounts of up to 8 inches (20 centimeters), with the heaviest rain likely in the island's eastern and southern regions.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla warned of flooding, landslides and swollen rivers, which he urged people not to try and cross.

"It's something that sounds obvious but it happens so often," he said. "It's not the time to take risks."

Authorities said there were some 239 people at a shelter in the southeast coastal town of Arroyo, the majority of them athletes participating in a youth baseball tournament.

Ingrid Vila, gubernatorial chief of staff, said Puerto Rico's main international airport remained open but that several flights have been cancelled. She said some 800 people were without power and more than 1,000 without water. The lights also went out at the island's emergency management agency during a press conference Saturday morning.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, the eastern Dominican Republic, southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands. A tropical storm watch was in effect for central Bahamas.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic banned vessels from operating along the country's east coast, which is popular with tourists. The sun shone brightly there ahead of the storm, but those who ferry hundreds of tourists a day to the nearby island of Saona remained cautious.

"Our fear was to take customers and then have the storm trap them on the island," said Davis de la Cruz, marketing manager for tourism company Caribbean Saona.

On Friday, Bertha passed just north of the French Caribbean island of Martinique, where it knocked out power in several areas. Government spokeswoman Audrey Hamann said in a phone interview that some 150,000 homes were affected by outages but that no injuries or damage were reported.

In Dominica, the storm left hundreds of people without power along the island's eastern region.

Antigua-based regional airline LIAT canceled several flights in Dominica, St. Lucia, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, while the U.S. Coast Guard closed ports in the U.S. Virgin Islands and eastern and southern Puerto Rico.

The storm may bring rain to a drought-hit area of southern Puerto Rico

Strict rationing measures are scheduled to go into effect starting Wednesday if the storm doesn't generate enough rain. Government officials said hundreds of thousands of people living in and near the capital of San Juan would receive water every other day.

Ernesto Morales of the National Weather Service said the storm was moving quickly and its effects would be felt all day Saturday in Puerto Rico. Authorities closed El Yunque rainforest, a popular tourist attraction in northeast Puerto Rico, and ferry rides to the neighboring islands of Culebra and Vieques were cancelled.

It rained less than an inch in June in Puerto Rico, compared with the month's average of more than 4 inches. July saw more rain, but the 3.40 inches (8.64 centimeters) that fell was still down from the average of 4.76 inches (12 centimeters).