Hurricane Ernesto is expected to bring deteriorating conditions to Bermuda on Friday, as the storm approaches the North Atlantic island and popular tourist destination, CBS News reports.
The island is under a hurricane warning following the storm’s destructive path through the Caribbean, leaving hundreds of thousands without power earlier this week.
In its latest update at 5 a.m. EDT Friday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ernesto had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph. It was about 320 miles south-southwest of Bermuda and heading north-northeast at 13 mph, the hurricane center said.
“Some strengthening is forecast during the next day or so and Ernesto is forecast to be a large hurricane near Bermuda on Saturday and maintain hurricane strength through the weekend,” the center reported.
Ernesto is “expected to produce strong winds, dangerous storm surge and life-threatening flooding across Bermuda starting later today tropical storm conditions likely beginning this afternoon,” the hurricane center continued.
Ernesto is a large tropical cyclone, the center pointed out, with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 70 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 265 miles.
Ernesto is expected to dump 6 inches to a foot of rain on Bermuda with up to 15 inches in some areas, and that’s likely to “result in considerable life-threatening flash flooding,” the center said.
“Swells generated by Ernesto are affecting portions of the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, and Bermuda,” the center continued. “Swells are expected to spread up the East Coast of the United States today and continue into the weekend, and could reach portions of Atlantic Canada by late Saturday. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
Ahead of Ernesto’s arrival, a rush of people have been trying to leave Bermuda. Michael Vanderbilt of Arlington, Virginia, who cut his trip to Bermuda short, was among the travelers waiting in long lines at L.F. Wade International Airport Thursday.
“I was here for a week of vacation, and I’m just taking the opportunity to leave a little early so I don’t get caught up in the aftermath of the storm,” Vanderbilt told CBS News.
The waves were already getting quite rough on the south end of Bermuda Thursday, and Bermudians like Richard Evans of Pembroke Parish were boarding up their homes.
“You never know until it actually hits because it can change direction, but you prepare like it’s going to hit,” Evans said.
Ernesto has already caused potentially life-threatening conditions in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It passed north of the region as a tropical storm that still managed to knock out power to hundreds of thousands of residents. At one point, 23 hospitals were operating on generators. Schools and numerous roads were also closed.
A spokesperson for Puerto Rico’s electricity provider, LUMA Energy, told CBS News that at the outage’s peak, 750,000 customers were without power. As of 6 a.m. EDT Friday, that number had dropped to about 245,000. Some 1,600 crew members were working as quickly as possible to repair the power grid.
Residents in Puerto Rico were still coping with the damage Thursday. In Fajardo, a town on the northeast corner of the island, debris piles from damaged businesses were growing.
The U.S. Virgin Island had about 46,000 out of power at one point on Wednesday — nearly all customers. As of Thursday night, about 10,000 homes and businesses were still without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
Ernesto developed just days after Debby finished its move along the U.S. East Coast, where it left at least eight people dead, including children, as a Category 1 hurricane-turned-tropical storm.
Rivers across Puerto Rico were swollen after nearly 10 inches of rain.
Officials were forced to open flood gates at a dam along the La Plata River. Sirens warned residents in nearby municipality of Toa Baja to evacuate their homes in case of flooding.
Puerto Rico’s power grid was wiped out in 2017 by Hurricane Maria, which slammed the island as a strong Category 4 storm.
“The government today is much better prepared,” said Juan Saca, president and CEO of LUMA Energy. “… We have a plan that you can go into our website and take a look at the plan.”
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico, the White House said Tuesday night, authorizing FEMA to help with storm recovery.
Hurricane Ernesto is the fifth named storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, which has already set records with Beryl reaching unprecedented strength earlier this year. The season’s early activity is attributed to above-average temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted an above-normal hurricane season, forecasting 17-25 named storms, 8-13 hurricanes, and 4-7 major hurricanes.
Ernesto’s early arrival is unusual, as the fifth named storm typically doesn’t form until August 22nd, according to NOAA.
