FAJARDO, Puerto Rico Dorian, the first hurricane to hit Puerto Rico since 2017s devastating Mara, was expected to make landfall Wednesday afternoon, pounding the east coast with rain and whipping winds.

The storm strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane about 2 p.m. as it barreled over the U.S. Virgin Islands toward Vieques and Culebra, the Puerto Rican islands sometimes called the colonies of the colony off the eastern coast.

Dorian had been expected to veer south. But early Wednesday morning, the storm turned northward.