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 Gonzalo's center is expected to pass just northeast of the British
Virgin Islands in the early hours of Tuesday morning before heading
into open Atlantic waters north of Puerto Rico, the service added.
Puerto Ricans stocked up on water, batteries and other emergency
supplies, and emergency personnel were put on alert.
But most forecasts show it posing no threat to the mainland United
States and moving still further north into the Atlantic.
On Monday, Gonzalo's heavy rains and high winds destroyed several
fishing boats, blew off roofs and downed power lines in Antigua and
Barbuda.
Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne ordered schools closed for a
national cleanup effort on Tuesday to get the nation "fully back in
business" by Wednesday.
 Gonzalo was about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of St. Thomas in the
U.S. Virgin Islands and packed sustained winds reaching nearly 105
miles per hour (165 km per hour) early on Tuesday, the service said.
It is forecast to strengthen for another two days and become a major
hurricane within the next 24 hours, the service added.
Hurricane warnings were in effect for the British Virgin Islands as
well as Anguilla early on Tuesday. A hurricane watch for Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands was downgraded to a tropical storm
warning.
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Gonzalo is the sixth hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane
season. Forecasters in August predicted lower than usual activity
for the season, with seven to 12 named storms and no more than two
reaching major hurricane status.
A major hurricane is considered to be Category 3 or above with winds
hitting at least 111 mph (178 kph).
(Reporting by Ian Simpson, Colleen Jenkins, David Adams and Reuters
in San Juan; Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner in San
Francisco)
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