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(CNN) - Multiple islands in the Atlantic were under surveillance of hurricane or tropical storm on Monday morning as Hurricane Lorenzo approached.
The category 2 hurricane has threatened the Azores for days. On Monday morning, it was approximately 1,865 kilometers from the islands and with winds of 175 km / h, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
The Azores are a group of paradisiacal islands approximately 1,500 kilometers west of Lisbon, Portugal.
The center of the storm will pass near the islands early Wednesday, the NHC said. As Lorenzo approaches, it will shed up to 15.2 centimeters of rain on most of the Western Azores and up to 5.1 centimeters on the central Azores on Tuesday and Wednesday. The rain could cause life-threatening floods in the western part of the Azores, the center warned.
The storm will remain at sea, said CNN meteorologist Michael Guy, but threatens the islands with wind damage, flash floods and landslides.
The center also said that hurricane conditions were possible on the islands of Flores, Corvo, Faial, Pico, Sao Jorge, Graciosa and Terceira, where hurricane alerts were issued.
Sao Miguel and Santa Maria are under tropical storm surveillance.
The hurricane center said the storm is "big and powerful" and warned that its wind fields would continue to expand in the coming days. Lorenzo's hurricane force winds currently extend 150 kilometers outward from the center of the storm and its tropical storm force winds extend 405 kilometers, he said.
Storm winds may have weakened, the hurricane center said, but emphasized that "the area of hurricane winds has more than doubled" since Saturday.
United Kingdom and Ireland will feel effects
During the weekend, Lorenzo was strengthened to become a category 5 hurricane, which makes it the strongest hurricane recorded so far north and east in the Atlantic basin, the hurricane center said.
Even Ireland and the United Kingdom will feel some rain and wind, but not until Thursday, Guy said.
The storm could cause some delays in air travel, he said.