Hurricane Ernesto wreaks havoc Bermuda The British Isles are set to face the region on Friday as a Category 2 storm, bringing the threat of strong winds, dangerous storm surges and potentially deadly flooding.
The US National Hurricane Center said Ernesto, located about 95 miles (150 km) south-southwest of the islands at 8 pm Atlantic Standard Time (0000 GMT Saturday), had sustained winds of up to 100 mph (155 km/h) and was likely to produce up to 9 inches (230 mm) of rain.
The center of Ernesto is expected to pass near or over Bermuda on Saturday morning, causing storm surge and flash flooding by the afternoon.
“People, have no illusions. This storm is real,” Bermuda’s National Security Minister Michael Weeks said at a press conference on Friday.
He warned Bermudians to prepare for 36 hours of hurricane and tropical storm force winds beginning Friday afternoon.
Electric utility Belco said the winds had knocked out power to 5,400 of Bermuda’s 36,000 customers. The company said it had pulled its repair crews from the field because the work was too dangerous.
Warren Darrell, 52, of Smith Parish, said he had stocked up on groceries for his family, locked doors and moved furniture off the lawn in preparation for Ernesto’s arrival.
“I’m ready to go play with my daughters and wait,” he said. “I’m a little worried, a little anxious, but I think we’ll get through this. I think we’ll be OK.”
Gusty winds, torrential rain and strong currents began blowing just before noon in John Smith’s Bay on Bermuda’s main island. The government had planned to close the bridge connecting to St. George’s Island on Friday night. Several tourists and locals were seen walking along the southern shore as waves grew in size just before 2 p.m., while one person was windsurfing.
Hurricane conditions were expected to remain in Bermuda, a group of 181 small islands located 600 miles (965 km) off the Carolina coast, until Sunday, National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said in an online briefing.
According to records dating back to the 1850s, fewer than a dozen hurricanes have directly struck Bermuda.
Earlier this week, Ernesto Puerto Rico As a tropical storm, it brought heavy rainfall to the U.S. Caribbean region and left about half of the 1.5 million customers without power.
About 250,000 homes and businesses remained without power as of Friday morning, according to Luma Energy, the island’s main electricity distributor.
Puerto Rico’s power grid is extremely fragile. In recent years, when weather systems have been more powerful than Ernesto, the island has experienced long power outages.
Ernesto is the fifth named storm in the Atlantic, kicking off what is expected to be an intense hurricane season. Slow-moving Debby made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast last week as a Category 1 hurricane, before dumping up to 2 feet of rain on parts of the Carolinas.