Tropical cyclone Sandy regains hurricane strength

Tropical cyclone Sandy regains hurricane strength

MIAMI -Reuters
Tropical cyclone Sandy regains hurricane strength

Santiago, Cuba. REUTERS photo

Tropical cyclone Sandy regained hurricane strength on Saturday after flagging wind speeds earlier in the day triggered its downgrade to a tropical storm, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

At 8 a.m. EDT, the Miami-based Hurricane Center said Sandy's top sustained winds were 75 miles per hour (120 km per hour), making it a weak Category 1 hurricane.

The massive storm, with a rapidly expanding wind field, was located about 335 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and moving on a north-northeast track toward its expected landfall early next week on the northeast U.S. coast.