A fast-strengthening Hurricane Omar was crossing the northern Leeward Islands early Thursday as a major Category 3 storm.

A day earlier, the hurricane sank boats in a St. Croix harbor, knocked down trees and trapped people in their homes before spinning toward other tiny islands.

The storm's top winds increased to 120 mph (195 kph) on a path that forecasters said would likely bring it past the U.S. and British Virgin Islands on one side and territories including Anguilla on the other, potentially missing a direct hit on any Caribbean island.

"It could thread the needle, but any kind of track deviation and any of those islands will be clobbered," said Jack Beven of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

As Omar's center edged past St. Croix late Wednesday, some panicked residents were denied evacuation requests because emergency responders were pinned down by the storm, according to Jacqueline Heyliger, deputy director of the island's emergency management agency.

"No damages have been reported, but we have a couple more hours of this," Heyliger said after midnight, adding that 85 people were in the island's only shelter.

At the Caravelle Hotel in St. Croix, maintenance worker Mike Parish was working by the light from generators in a vain effort to keep rain water from blowing in beneath the door. Authorities cut electricity across the island as a precaution.

"We're are doing all we can. The water is too much for us," Parish said.

The storm, which sank at least two 30-foot (9-meter) boats in Christiansted harbor, was following an unusual southwest-to-the-northeast track toward the central North Atlantic, well away from the U.S. mainland.

On the nearby Puerto Rican island of Vieques, the storm flooded roads and downed tree branches. Fishermen and others gathered at dusk to watch the rough surf smash against a seawall.

"I came because I though the wall had gone, since all the hurricanes take it," said Ivette Abreu, a 45-year-old medical assistant.

One death was reported on Puerto Rico's tiny island of Culebra. Authorities say a 55-year-old man collapsed from cardiac arrest while trying to install storm shutters on his house.

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. John deJongh closed all public schools, told government employees to head home at midmorning and imposed a 6 p.m. curfew for all islands. He also activated the National Guard. "Take this very seriously," he said.

Police rescued several stranded motorists from flooded roads Wednesday afternoon.

In St. Croix, the Hovensa LLC oil refinery, among the 10 largest in the world, was shutting down until after the storm passes, said spokesman Alex Moorehead. St. Croix is the most-populous of the U.S. Virgin Islands with more than 50,000 people. Continued...