Florence to become a major hurricane Monday morning: NHC

(Reuters) - Florence is expected to become a major hurricane on Monday morning and to remain one through Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Monday.

The category 2 hurricane was located about 535 miles (860 km) north-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour (165 km/h), it added.

The center of Florence will move over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and the Bahamas Tuesday and Wednesday, and approach the southeastern coast of the United States on Thursday, the NHC said.

(Reporting by Harshith Aranya in Bengaluru; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)