Residents in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos on Monday braced for the Atlantic season's first hurricane, the Category 4 Erin, after it strengthened over the weekend while sweeping past Caribbean islands.

Two more tropical systems trail Hurricane Erin, which is following a projected course that brushes past the East Coast without making landfall.

Hurricane Erin is churning slowly toward the eastern U.S. coast and stirring up waves that already have forced dozens of beach rescues

Two U.S. cruise passengers drowned in separate incidents at Carnival Cruise Line’s new private resort in the Bahamas, authorities confirmed. Now, an Arkansas man is sharing that he witnessed one of the incidents.

Even though Carnival Cruise Line has been hosting guests at its new private island in the Bahamas for less than a month, two guests have already died by drowning. Both deaths happened on Friday at Celebration Key — Carnival’s private island — and both incidents involved visitors in their 70s.