SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Expecting a brush with Hurricane Frances, some Puerto Ricans hurried to put up metal storm shutters Monday to shield homes from ferocious winds that could uproot trees and tear roofs apart.

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The powerful Category 3 hurricane was forecast to just graze Puerto Rico and other islands of the northeastern Caribbean by Tuesday before possibly plowing into the Bahamas and Florida in the coming days. Some islanders said they were taking no chances with Frances' 120-mph winds.

"If it comes, they'll give us 24 hours' warning. The more we've done, the less work it will be when it gets here," said Jesus Gimenez, a 52-year-old teacher who put up storm shutters on a hillside house in eastern Puerto Rico and stocked up on groceries from evaporated milk to bottled water.

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Forecasts put Frances anywhere from Cuba to off the Carolinas by the end of the week. It was expected to graze Puerto Rico and other islands of the northeastern Caribbean by next Tuesday before possibly striking the Bahamas and Florida, said Stephen Baig, an oceanographer at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

At 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Frances was centered about 140 miles north-northeast of St. Martin in the northern Leeward Islands and was moving westward at about 14 mph.

In the possible path was Florida, which was ravaged by Hurricane Charley this month. That storm caused an estimated $7.4 billion in insured losses and killed 27 people.

Coastal residents should be "paying attention, dusting off their hurricane plans, making whatever preparations that they failed to make at the start of hurricane season," Baig said.

A hurricane watch -- meaning hurricane conditions were possible within 36 hours -- was in effect for the British Virgin Islands and northern U.S. Virgin Islands on Monday, as well as the Puerto Rican island of Culebra. Other parts of Puerto Rico were under a tropical storm watch for winds of 39 mph to 73 mph.

Tropical storm warnings were posted for the eastern Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dutch St. Maarten, Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Eustatius and Saba. A storm watch also was issued for the French territories of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy.

The Virgin Islands National Park was closed on the U.S. island of St. John, and some anchored their boats in a protected lagoon surrounded by hills in hopes of keeping them safe. In the British Virgin Islands, yachters brought their boats into safe harbors or put them in dry dock, while stores bustled with residents buying last-minute provisions. One cruise ship canceled a port call in St. Thomas.

The Category 3 hurricane had weakened slightly from 125 mph Sunday, but forecasters warned it could pick up strength as it neared the islands.

Outer bands of rain were forecast to begin brushing some of the islands late Monday, and Frances was to begin passing north of the islands early Tuesday.

A U.S. hurricane hunter plane was scheduled to fly in to investigate Monday. Hurricane-force winds of 74 mph extended up to 85 miles from Frances' center, while tropical storm-force winds extended up to 140 miles.

Meanwhile, the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston drenched central North Carolina on Monday, and flash flood warnings were posted there.

Elsewhere, Tropical Storm Hermine headed north in the Atlantic with steady winds of 50 mph, prompting a storm warning for Cape Cod and the Massachusetts islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. At 2 p.m., Hermine was centered about 275 miles southwest of Nantucket.

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