And in Ireland the tail end of the storm threatened to delay Friday's start to the 36th Ryder Cup golf match between Europe and the United States.

The winds were expected to reach gusts of between 90 to 110 kilometres per hour in the northern regions of Spain, weakening to 80 kilometres per hour in the central regions which include the capital, Madrid, a civil protection official said.

"This is an extraordinary phenomenon which can have dangerous repercussions," said a government spokesman for Galicia in northwest Spain which lies directly in the path of the hurricane and where the local government had ordered schools to stay closed on Thursday.

The storm was earlier downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it passed just south of Flores and Corvo, the two westernmost islands in the nine-island Azores archipelago which is home to some 240,000 people. A Category 1 storm on the five-step Saffir Simpson scale of hurricane intensity causes damage primarily to unanchored mobile homes, trees and piers as well as flooding in coastal and low-lying areas.

Gordon had initially been expected to hit the Azores, located about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) west of mainland Portugal, as a Category 2 hurricane but it lost strength as it moved over colder waters towards the islands.

Major hurricanes are those at Category 3 and higher. Portuguese civil authorities changed the alert level from red to orange, and said that only two of the islands -- especially Sao Miguel -- were still on a state of alert, as opposed to five on Tuesday.

They ordered schools to be shut and fishermen to stay on land on Wednesday, and boosted the number of emergency personnel on call.

The tail end of Hurricane Gordon was also causing concern in Ireland where organisers of the 36th Ryder Cup temporarily closed the K Club course.

Winds gusting at up to 64 kph in the early morning had forced organisers to check all the temporary installations on the course, causing a three-hour delay before thousands of spectators who had been queueing since before dawn were allowed on to the course.

With the course already soaked by torrential rain on Monday and the wild weather expected to continue, the terrain could be left too saturated for the match to start on schedule on Friday morning.

The last time the Ryder Cup was interrupted by bad weather was at Valderrama, Spain in 1987, when a deluge delayed the start. The event finished on time on the Sunday however.

related report

Hurricane Gordon downgraded as it passes Azores

Lisbon (AFP) Sep 20 - Hurricane Gordon was downgraded to an extratropical storm Wednesday as it closed in on the Azores archipelago in the mid-Atlantic, but 130 kilometers (80 miles) an hour winds could still do damage, authorities in the Portuguese territory warned.

The storm was earlier downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it passed just south of Flores and Corvo, the two westernmost islands in the nine-island chain which is home to some 240,000 people. Authorities reported no injuries or damage.

Civil authorities changed the alert level from red to orange, and said that only two of the islands -- especially Sao Miguel -- were still on a state of alert, as opposed to five on Tuesday.

Schools, however, remained closed Wednesday, as did the international airport of Ponta Delgada, which postponed all flights until 1100 GMT.

The president of the regional government of the Azores, Carlos Cesar, said earlier that emergency services were ready to handle the effects of the storm.

"All the mechanisms and means at our disposal have been activated," he told reporters late Tuesday on the island of Sao Miguel after an emergency government meeting to discuss hurricane preparations, the Lusa news reported.

Local authorities ordered schools to be shut and fishermen to stay on land on Wednesday, and boosted the number of emergency personnel on call.

Three ports on the island of Terceirca, which is home to a US air force base, and one port on the island of Graciosa closed late Tuesday because of the expected huge waves, maritime officials said.

Residents were advised to close doors and windows, clear storm sewers, move livestock to safe areas, lock away farm equipment and garbage bins and move boats inland ahead of the arrival of the storm.

Gordon had initially been expected to hit the Azores, located about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) west of mainland Portugal, as a Category 2 hurricane but it lost strength as it moved over colder waters towards the islands.

Extratropical storms originate outside the tropics and generally move west to east across the oceans and continents.

Major hurricanes are those Category 3 and higher.

Tropical storms often pass near the Azores islands, but direct hits by a hurricane are rare. Forecasters expect Gordon will eventually be absorbed by a larger weather system which was expected to approach northwestern Portugal and Spain on Thursday, bringing with it heavy rain and strong winds to the two countries.

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