Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were breathing a huge sigh of relief last night as Hurricane Dorian swung away from them, resulting in far less damage than had been feared.

But whether Florida will have similar luck remained doubtful, according to forecasters, who predict Dorian could hit the state hard, possibly at Category 3 strength.

If the storm’s current track holds, Dorian could be “the strongest hurricane to hit Central Florida in over 30 years,” said Glenn Richards, meteorologist for FOX 35 in Orlando.

“Hurricane-force sustained winds would be carried across the entire width of the state if the current forecast holds,” he warned.

As the storm barreled across the Caribbean, people in Florida were starting to get ready. Local and county governments were distributing sandbags and many residents were rushing to stores for water, canned foods and emergency supplies.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Dorian was expected to strengthen into a dangerous Category 3 hurricane as it stayed well to the east of the southeastern and central Bahamas over the next two days. The forecast called for the storm to pass near or over the northern Bahamas on Saturday and close in on Florida by Sunday afternoon.

The storm was a Category 1 hurricane yesterday when it swirled through the islands of the northeastern Caribbean, causing power outages and flooding in places but doing no major damage.

Puerto Rico seemed to be spared any heavy wind and rain, a huge relief to many on an island where blue tarps still cover some 30,000 homes nearly two years after Hurricane Maria. The island’s 3.2 million inhabitants also depend on an unstable power grid that remains prone to outages since it was destroyed by Maria, a Category 4 storm.