Tropical storm Humberto gained strength Sunday and was expected to return to hurricane force by evening, but its track now puts it far from the Bahamas and the US coast, the US National Hurricane Center said.

As of midday, Humberto was 180 miles (290 kilometers) northwest of Great Abaco Island, which was devastated two weeks ago by the passage of Hurricane Dorian, and 165 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, the NHC said in an update at 15H00 GMT.

It had maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour, slightly below hurricane strength, but was expected to gain power through the day.

"Humberto is expected to become a hurricane by tonight," the NHC said.

It warned beachgoers in the US states of Florida and North Carolina that heavy swells "could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions."

But its peripheral winds were not expected to pose any danger to land.

On Monday, Humberto is expected to take a sharp turn to the northeast, moving it even farther from land.

- Guterres 'horrified' -

On Saturday the storm swept past the northern Bahamas, but without the torrential rains or devastating winds that Dorian had brought earlier in the month.

Dorian, a mammoth storm of historic magnitude, left at least 52 people dead, with as many as 1,300 still listed as missing.

More than 7,000 inhabitants of the Abacos or Grand Bahama lost their homes, and 2,000 are still living in shelters.

Aid has poured in from foreign countries and international aid groups, though Humberto delayed some shipments.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the islands on Saturday.

He said he was "horrified" by the level of destruction, and he called for more urgent international action to curb climate change.

"We need to make sure that we reverse the present trend, where climate change is running faster than what we are," he said.

Tropical Storm Humberto dumps rain on hurricane-hit Bahamas
Miami (AFP) Sept 15, 2019 - Tropical Storm Humberto lashed the Bahamas with rain and wind on Saturday, possibly slowing down relief efforts in the wake of the devastation wrought less than two weeks ago by Hurricane Dorian.

The US National Hurricane Center said the center of the storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour, was passing Saturday evening about 85 miles north of Great Abaco Island, one of the areas hardest hit by Dorian.

Humberto was moving away from the Bahamas on a path taking it well off the east coast of Florida this weekend and early next week, the NHC said.

The storm is expected to strengthen into a hurricane on Sunday but is not forecast to impact the Bahamas or the US by that point.

"Significant storm surge is not expected in the northwestern Bahamas from this system," the Miami-based NHC said -- good news for residents of Abaco and Grand Bahama still trying to get back on track after Dorian swept through early this month.

But about two to four inches (five to 10 centimeters) of rain were expected in most areas, with isolated flooding in low-lying areas, the Bahamian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) cautioned.

"I know this is not something people in Abaco and Grand Bahama would like to hear at this time, but it's out there and the storm will bring heavy downpours over the Bahama islands," Shavon Bonimy, senior meteorologist in Grand Bahama, told The Nassau Guardian.

"So we have to be prepared."

NEMA spokesman Carl Smith told reporters on Friday that the storm would likely "slow down logistics" of relief efforts, but added: "We have contingency plans in place."

"Fuel and water remain the biggest needs in Abaco," Smith said.

So far, the death toll from monster storm Dorian is at 52, but officials say that number is likely to go up. About 1,300 people are still unaccounted for, but Smith said officials are working to cross-reference new data and locate the missing.

Former Bahamian prime minister Hubert Ingraham said earlier this week he feared the final death toll could be in the hundreds.

- 'Climate crisis' -

Meanwhile 71 people were staying in shelters on Grand Bahama island and 2,037 in shelters in New Providence, where Nassau is located, Smith said.

"I just came back from Abaco. I must say (I) was horrified. I've never seen such a level of systematic devastation," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Saturday after traveling to the islands the day prior.

"Hurricane Dorian has been classified as category five. I think it's category hell."

Guterres said Dorian demonstrated the need to address climate change.

"It was not powered by the devil. We have always had many hurricanes, but now they are more intense, and they are more frequent, and they are powered by climate change," he said.

"We need to make sure that we reverse the present trend where climate change is running faster than what we are."

While he congratulated the Bahamian and other governments along with aid agencies who responded to the hurricane, he warned recovering from the disaster "will require a large investment" and said the country deserved the support of the international community.

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1,300 still missing in hurricane-hit Bahamas: officials
Miami (AFP) Sept 12, 2019
Some 1,300 people are still unaccounted for in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian, officials said Thursday, down from the 2,500 previously reported. The Bahamian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) attributed the drop to cross-referencing names of missing persons with those in shelters. "It's very fluid," NEMA spokesman Carl Smith told reporters at a press conference in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. The Bahamian authorities have put the death toll from the devastating Cat ... read more