Danny Becomes Hurricane in the Atlantic

MIAMI—Atlantic storm Danny strengthened into a hurricane around midday on Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The agency said Danny's maximum sustained winds had increased to 75 miles an hour, as the storm was 1,090 miles east of the Windward Islands, moving to the west-northwest at 12 miles an hour.

Danny is the first hurricane of the 2015 season in the Atlantic Ocean.

The storm's forecast five-day track shows it possibly approaching the Windward Islands early on Monday as a hurricane and then potentially approaching Puerto Rico as a tropical storm.

The storm doesn't currently pose a threat to any land, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, stormy weather in Texas on Thursday was affecting some oil operations. Valero Energy Corp. said lighting caused a fire at a transformer serving the company's 245,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Texas City.

Local media said lightning also struck a tank used to store oil in Crystal Beach, forcing a temporary shutdown of the Intracoastal Waterway because black smoke.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 20, 2015 12:45 ET (16:45 GMT)

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