SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Erin exploded in strength and became a major storm in Atlantic waters just north of the Caribbean on Saturday, rapidly powering up from a tropical storm in a single day and bringing heavy rains and high winds to islands in the region.
The first Atlantic hurricane of 2025, Erin reached Category 5 status before weakening somewhat and becoming a Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
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This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Erin on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (NOAA via AP)
This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Erin on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (NOAA via AP)
Pigeons perch on power lines in Santurce, a neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as Hurricane Erin approaches, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
A woman poses for photos next to a Puerto Rican flag along the beach in Condado, Puerto Rico, as Hurricane Erin approaches, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
Power lines and utility poles stand in front of La Perla neighborhood along the coast in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, as Hurricane Erin approaches, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
A warning flag flies on the beach as people swim in Condado, Puerto Rico, as Hurricane Erin approaches, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
Late Saturday night, the center reported that Erin was “undergoing structural changes” but was still “formidable” as its rain and winds buffeted Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The storm’s center was about 145 miles (230 kilometers) north-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and it was heading toward the west-northwest at 14 mph (22 kph). It was not forecast to make a direct hit on land.
Hurricane center director Mike Brennen said Erin grew into a “very powerful hurricane,” with its winds gaining 60 mph (96 kph) in about nine hours.
Forecasters predicted it will remain a major hurricane into the coming week.
The storm's center was forecast pass north of Puerto Rico, according to the National Hurricane Center. Nevertheless, it said, heavy rain in some areas could trigger flash flooding, landslides and mudslides.
Tropical storm watches were issued for St. Martin, St. Barts and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The National Weather Service in San Juan issued an alert for Saturday night for nearly two thirds of Puerto Rico, warning of 50 mph (80 kph) winds and urging people to shelter in safe structures. Power was knocked out to about 130,000 customers in the territory.
Locals and tourists walked and shopped as usual earlier in the day in Puerto Rico's capital. Restaurants were busy, and despite warnings to avoid beaches, people could be seen in the water.
Sarahí Torres and Joanna Cornejo, who were visiting from California for a Bad Bunny concert, said they decided to go to the beach and wade in because the skies were calm.
“The weather looked fine, so we came out,” Torres said.
The U.S. government deployed more than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies as a precaution. Puerto Rico Housing Secretary Ciary Pérez Peña said 367 shelters were inspected and ready to open if needed.
Officials in the Bahamas also prepared shelters and urged people to monitor the storm's progress.
Powerful rip currents could affect the U.S. East Coast from Florida to the mid-Atlantic next week, despite the eye of the storm forecast to remain far offshore, Brennan said.
Hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said Erin gained strength at a pace that was “incredible for any time of year, let alone Aug. 16.”
Lowry said only four other Category 5 hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic on or before Aug. 16.
The most powerful storms tend to form later in the year, with the hurricane season typically peaking in mid-September.
In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma rocketed from a tropical storm to a Category 5 in less than 24 hours, according to National Hurricane Center advisories from that time. Wilma weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before striking Florida. And in October 2007, Hurricane Felix took just over a day to go from a tropical storm to Category 5.
Including Erin, there have been 43 hurricanes that have reached Category 5 status on record in the Atlantic, said Dan Pydynowski, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, a private forecasting company.
“They’re certainly rare, although this would mark the fourth year in a row that we’ve had one in the Atlantic basin,” Pydynowski said.
Scientists have linked rapid intensification of hurricanes in the Atlantic to climate change. Global warming is causing the atmosphere to hold more water vapor and is spiking ocean temperatures, and warmer waters give hurricanes fuel to unleash more rain and strengthen more quickly.
Storms that ramp up so quickly complicate forecasting and make it harder for government agencies to plan for emergencies. Hurricane Erick, a Pacific storm that made landfall June 19 in Oaxaca, Mexico, also strengthened rapidly, doubling in intensity in less than a day.
Erin is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 and is expected to be unusually busy. Six to 10 hurricanes are predicted for the season, including three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 110 mph (177 kph).
Bynum reported from Savannah. Georgia. Associated Press writers Isabella O'Malley in Philadelphia and Ivelisse Rivera in San Juan contributed.
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This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Erin on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (NOAA via AP)
This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Erin on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (NOAA via AP)
Pigeons perch on power lines in Santurce, a neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as Hurricane Erin approaches, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
A woman poses for photos next to a Puerto Rican flag along the beach in Condado, Puerto Rico, as Hurricane Erin approaches, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
Power lines and utility poles stand in front of La Perla neighborhood along the coast in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, as Hurricane Erin approaches, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
A warning flag flies on the beach as people swim in Condado, Puerto Rico, as Hurricane Erin approaches, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Justice Department is investigating whether Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have impeded federal immigration enforcement through public statements they have made, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.
The investigation, which both Walz and Frey said was a bullying tactic meant to threaten political opposition, focused on potential violation of a conspiracy statute, the people said.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a pending investigation by name.
CBS News first reported the investigation.
The investigation comes during a weekslong immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and St. Paul that the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest recent immigration enforcement operation, resulting in more than 2,500 arrests.
The operation has become more confrontational since the fatal shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7, with agents pulling people from cars and homes and frequently being confronted by angry bystanders demanding they leave. State and local officials have repeatedly told protesters to remain peaceful.
In response to reports of the investigation, Walz said in a statement: “Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic.”
U.S. senators Kelly, from Arizona, and Slotkin, from Michigan, are under investigation from the President Donald Trump administration after appearing with other Democratic lawmakers in a video urging members of the military to resist “illegal orders." The administration has also launched a criminal investigation of Powell, a first for a sitting federal reserve chair.
Walz’s office said it has not received any notice of an investigation.
Frey described the investigation as an attempt to intimidate him for “standing up for Minneapolis, our local law enforcement, and our residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our streets.”
The U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis did not immediately comment.
In a post on the social media platform X following reports of the investigation, Attorney General Pam Bondi said: “A reminder to all those in Minnesota: No one is above the law.” She did not specifically mention the investigation.
State authorities, meanwhile, had a message for any weekend protests against the Trump administration’s immigration sweep in the Twin Cities: avoid confrontation.
“While peaceful expression is protected, any actions that harm people, destroy property or jeopardize public safety will not be tolerated,” said Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
His comments came after Trump backed off a bit from his threat a day earlier to invoke an 1807 law, the Insurrection Act, to send troops to suppress demonstrations.
“I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I’d use it,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.
Federal officers in the Minneapolis-area participating in the enforcement operation can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters, who aren’t obstructing authorities, including when these people are observing the agents, a U.S. judge in Minnesota ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez ruled in the case filed in December on behalf of six Minnesota activists, which were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.
Government attorneys argued that the officers have been acting within their legal authority to enforce immigration laws and protect themselves. But the ACLU has said government officers are violating the constitutional rights of Twin Cities residents.
A Liberian man who has been shuttled in and out of custody since immigration agents broke down his door with a battering ram was released again Friday, hours after a routine check-in with authorities led to his second arrest.
The dramatic initial arrest of Garrison Gibson last weekend was captured on video. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ruled the arrest unlawful Thursday and freed him, but Gibson was detained again Friday when he appeared at an immigration office.
A few hours later, Gibson was free again, attorney Marc Prokosch said.
“In the words of my client, he said that somebody at ICE said they bleeped up and so they re-released him this afternoon and so he’s out of custody,” Prokosch said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Gibson, 37, who fled the civil war in his West African home country as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed. He has remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, Prokosch said, and complied with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities.
In his Thursday order, the judge agreed that officials violated regulations by not giving Gibson enough notice that his supervision status had been revoked. Prokosch said he was told by ICE that they are “now going through their proper channels" to revoke the order.
Minneapolis authorities released police and fire dispatch logs and transcripts of 911 calls, all related to the fatal shooting of Good. Firefighters found what appeared to be two gunshot wounds in her right chest, one in her left forearm and a possible gunshot wound on the left side of her head, records show.
“They shot her, like, cause she wouldn’t open her car door,” a caller said. “Point blank range in her car.”
Good, 37, was at the wheel of her Honda Pilot, which was partially blocking a street. Video showed an officer approached the SUV, demanded that she open the door and grabbed the handle.
Good began to pull forward and turned the vehicle's wheel to the right. Another ICE officer, Jonathan Ross, pulled his gun and fired at close range, jumping back as the SUV moved past him. DHS claims the agent shot Good in self-defense.
Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; Ed White and Corey Williams in Detroit; Graham Lee Brewer in Oklahoma City; Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and Ben Finley in Washington contributed.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, attend a vigil honoring Renee Good on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn., outside the Minnesota State Capitol. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Teyana Gibson Brown, right, wife of Garrison Gibson, reacts after federal immigration officers arrested Garrison Gibson, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Teyana Gibson Brown, second from left, wife of Garrison Gibson, reacts after federal immigration officers arrested Garrison Gibson, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Garrison Gibson is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Garrison Gibson becomes emotional as he is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A man is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A man becomes emotional as he is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal immigration officers prepare to enter a home to make an arrest after an officer used a battering ram to break down a door Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, including one wearing a 'NOT ICE' face covering, walk near their vehicles, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Richfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A person looks out of their vehicle as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk away, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Richfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
