Area emergency management workers report this morning that they are watching Hurricane Maria.

The National Hurricane Center reported the storm is still too far out to say whether it will affect the East Coast of the United States, but notes that it has the potential to.

“Reports from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that Maria is undergoing rapid intensification,” the center’s discussion of the storm said, predicting it could reach Category 4 later today.

The storm is expected to be near Puerto Rico Wednesday and is being influenced by other weather. Hurricane warnings have been issued for numerous Caribbean islands, which were battered last week by Hurricane Irma.

“A high pressure area to the north of Maria should maintain a general west-northwestward motion for the next three days or so,” the center’s discussion says. “After that, the high weakens, which should allow the hurricane to turn gradually northwestward and north-northwestward.”