The National Hurricane Center, in its latest advisory on Wednesday morning, says Tropical Storm Katia is gradually gaining strength as it moves quickly west-northwestward. Yesterday morning Katia was estimated to have maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour and was moving west-northwestward at 21 mph.

The Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC) said Puerto Rico is open for business and fully operational for tourists after Hurricane Irene passed through last week. All hotels, casinos, airports and ferries are operating as normal on the main island as well as Culebra and Vieques.

Sandals Resorts has closed Beaches Resorts’ Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spas to new arrivals for 15 days after suffering “landscaping debris throughout the resort” in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, which struck the islands Wednesday night.

A decade after Nassau's famous straw market was destroyed by fire, hurricane Irene dealt it another blow, shredding the giant tent that had served as its temporary home since 2001. The market was set to move into a permanent building on Bay Street.

Flights to and from the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, the Dominican Republic and Haiti have been cancelled and airports have closed as Hurricane Irene gathers momentum. Airlines have waived penalties and change fees for travel in up until August 26.

Carnival Cruise Lines has changed seven cruise itineraries to avoid the path of Hurricane Irene. This is in addition to other itinerary changes announced on Sunday. Carnival Conquest, which departed Galveston on a seven-day cruise Aug. 21, is replacing calls at Nassau, Freeport and Key West Wednesday through Friday this week with visits to Costa Maya, Cozumel and Progresso.