BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — Hurricane Ivan blew off roofs and tore down trees Tuesday in Barbados as it churned toward Tobago and Grenada, where hundreds sought shelter just days after Frances swept through the Caribbean.

Ivan raced toward the Windward Islands with sustained winds of 115 mph, making it a Category 3. Forecasters said the storm could become a Category 4 late Tuesday.

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A hurricane warning was issued for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and its dependencies. A hurricane watch was in effect in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Martinique, St. Lucia and Barbados, where the island's 280,000 residents had prepared for the worst.

More than 175 homes were damaged throughout Barbados, said Judy Thomas, director of the Central Emergency Relief Organization. No injuries were reported. Two hotels — Atlantis Hotel in rural St. Joseph and Ocean Spray Hotel in south-coast Inch Marlow — lost part of their roofs, authorities said.

"We are very lucky," said Chester Layne, the chief meteorological officer for the Barbados government. "Had we been impacted by the main core of Ivan ... it could have been catastrophic."

More than 550 people were in seven shelters in Tobago, the smaller island belonging to Trinidad and Tobago, authorities said. Ivan's center was expected to pass north of Tobago, where hurricane force winds would be felt later Tuesday.

Schools, government offices and most private businesses were closed in Trinidad and Tobago and in Grenada on Tuesday. Airports in Barbados, Tobago and Grenada were also closed.

"It may directly hit Grenada or one of the Grenadines," said Jennifer Pralgo, a meteorologist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Authorities evacuated a low-lying neighborhood of several hundred people in the Grenadian capital of St. George's for fear of flooding.

Barbados felt hurricane-force gusts up to 90 mph Tuesday morning, the weather center said. The whipping winds sent palm trees tumbling. Strong winds were still gusting Tuesday afternoon.

"We are not out of the woods yet," Thomas said. "I caution Barbadians to stay indoors."

Several islanders called radio stations to report that winds ripped off their roofs completely and others said they had minor roof damage. No injuries have been reported.

Half of the roof of the temporary structure housing the retired British Airways Concorde jet blew off, authorities said. There was no reported damage to the plane, which was donated to Barbados in November.

Barbadian authorities shut down electricity island-wide to prevent electrocution after fallen trees brought down power lines. Skies were dark, but there had been very little rain.

"It was scary," said Elaine Hope, who was cooking lunch for her five grandchildren. Hope said her home in east-coast St. Joseph — covered with hurricane shutters — had not suffered any damage, but the winds tore down her neighbor's fence.

The Rev. Angela Philips said she also was frightened by the storm.

"But my greatest fear is for the other countries in the eastern Caribbean where Ivan is headed," she said.

If the storm's track continues, it could hit the island of Hispaniola, where floods in May killed more than 3,000 people on the Haitian-Dominican border.

At 11 a.m. EDT, the hurricane's center was about 45 miles northeast of Tobago. It was moving west near 18 mph and was expected to turn gradually toward the west-northwest later Tuesday.

Ivan became the fourth major hurricane of the season Sunday, following Hurricane Frances, which left at least two dead in the Bahamas and carved out a path of destruction that stretched from the Turks and Caicos Islands to Florida.

It's too early to say if Ivan could threaten Florida, meteorologists said.

St. Lucia's Agriculture Minister Ignatius Jean said Monday he was worried about the storm's possible effects on the region's banana industry, which has struggled to deal with a 50 percent decline in production in the past decade due to both droughts and hurricanes.

Unlike the Bahamas and the British territory of the Turks and Caicos where Hurricane Frances blew roofs off and snapped trees in half, many of the Windward islands are poorer, with old wooden structures in areas prone to flooding.