Hurricane Earl battered tiny islands across the northeastern Caribbean with heavy rain and damaging winds on Monday, rapidly intensifying into a major Category 4 storm on a path projected to hit the United States this weekend.

In the Caribbean, Earl caused flooding in low-lying areas and damaged homes on islands including Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and St. Maarten.

The rapid development of Earl, which only became a hurricane on Sunday, took some islanders and tourists by surprise.

See the video below…