Flora quickly intensified after it became a tropical storm, and early on September 30 it attained hurricane status. Later that day, Reconnaissance Aircraft confirmed the existence of the hurricane, with the flight reporting a well-defined, circular wide eye. One observer noted Flora to be the best organized tropical cyclone over the previous two years. After attaining major hurricane status, Flora passed directly over the island of Tobago late on the 30th with winds of . The hurricane continued west-northwestward as it entered the Caribbean, and early on October 2 its winds reached . Thirty hours later, Flora intensified slightly further and attained peak winds of while located about south of the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.