SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico  — Tropical Storm Ernesto battered the northeast Caribbean on Tuesday as it took aim at Puerto Rico, where officials closed schools, opened shelters and moved dozens of the U.S. territory’s endangered parrots into hurricane-proof rooms.

Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane as the center of the storm moves just northeast of Puerto Rico on a path toward Bermuda. Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands as well as the tiny Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra, which are popular with tourists.

“Since there is some chance of Ernesto becoming a hurricane while it is near the Virgin Islands, a hurricane watch remains in effect,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Tuesday. Tropical storm warnings were in place for Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barts and St. Maarten.

The storm’s center is expected to pass over the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday evening and pass just northeast and north of Puerto Rico late Tuesday and early Wednesday. It is then expected to move into open waters and be near Bermuda on Friday.

Heavy rains began pelting Puerto Rico, and strong winds churned the ocean into a milky turquoise as people rushed to finish securing homes and businesses.

“I’m hoping it will go away quickly,” said José Rodríguez, 36, as he climbed on the roof of his uncle’s wooden shack in the Afro-Caribbean community of Piñones on Puerto Rico’s north coast to secure the business famous for its fried street food.