After battering the Bahamas for more than two days, the center of Joaquin was churning away from the island chain. It was expected to pass just west of Bermuda, well off the U.S. coastline, on Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), the storm was about 625 miles (1,005 km) southwest of Bermuda and packing top sustained winds of 130 miles (215 km) per hour, the Miami-based NHC said.
It said the storm strengthened slightly Saturday morning, regaining potentially catastrophic Category 4 status on a scale of one to five, but some weakening was expected over the next 48 hours.
While Joaquin has continued to shift away from the U.S. East Coast, dangerous flooding triggered by heavy rainfall was expected across the Carolinas, along with parts of Georgia, Virginia and New Jersey this weekend, U.S. forecasters said.
South Carolina emergency officials said flash flood warnings had been issued for numerous counties. They said scores of homes had already been evacuated because of flooding, including in the coastal county that includes Myrtle Beach.
More than 15 inches (38 cm) of rain has fallen over the popular Myrtle Beach area since Friday, with more expected, the National Weather Service in Wilmington, North Carolina, reported on its website.
The U.S. Coast Guard said there was still no trace on Saturday of El Faro, a 735-foot (224-m) cargo ship that vanished on Thursday morning after it was overcome by heavy weather from Joaquin off Crooked Island in the Bahamas.
The vessel, with 28 U.S. citizens and five Polish nationals aboard, was headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida when it reported it had lost propulsion and was listing and taking on water, the Coast Guard said.
It said there had been no further communications after the ship issued a distress call at about 7:30 am (1130 GMT) Thursday.
No deaths or serious injuries have been reported in the Bahamas due to Joaquin, which cut a path of destruction across several small islands, but two deaths in the Carolinas on Thursday have been linked to heavy rainfall there.
Before the first easterly shift in Joaquin's trajectory, New York and New Jersey - where Superstorm Sandy killed more than 120 people and caused $70 billion of property damage in October 2012 - both faced potential threats from the storm.
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