(October 15, 2008)--Residents of the Virgin and northern Leeward Islands starting feeling the effects of Hurricane Omar Wednesday night.

By 10 pm Wednesday, Omar had strengthened to become a powerful category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour.

That makes Omar the fourth major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.

Hurricane force winds extended outward 35 miles from the center of the storm, and tropical storm force winds could be felt up to 115 miles away.

In addition to strong winds, Omar was expected to produce up to 20 inches of rain across the Virgin and northern Leeward Islands and storm surge flooding up to six feet above normal tide levels.

Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center issued its last public advisory on Tropical Depression Sixteen.

The depression had been hugging the northern coast of Honduras, but weakened quickly when it moved inland late Wednesday.

The storm is still expected to produce very heavy rain over parts of Central America.

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