Hurricane Ernesto hits Bermuda as a weakened but still dangerous storm
By Jasmine Patterson and Nicola Muirhead
BERMUDA (Reuters) -Hurricane Ernesto made landfall on Bermuda early on Saturday and was expected to batter the British island territory with powerful winds, a dangerous storm surge and potentially deadly flooding.
Ernesto was carrying top sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph) the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, although it had weakened to a Category 1 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale as it approached.
By 5 a.m. (0900 GMT), the storm was centred over Bermuda, an archipelago with a population of around 64,000 that lies more than 600 miles (970 km) off the South Carolina coast.
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Ernesto was expected to slowly depart Bermuda during Saturday, moving north-northeast on a track that would take it near or east of Newfoundland on Monday night, the hurricane center said.
The storm was carrying a dangerous storm surge that was expected to produce significant coastal flooding in parts of Bermuda, while rainfall was forecast at up to 9 inches (225 mm), the center said.
On Friday Ernesto had been classified as a Category 2 storm. Little change in its current strength was expected during Saturday, although some re-intensification was possible late in the weekend before weakening begins on Monday, the hurricane center said.
"Folks, be under no illusion. This storm is the real deal," Michael Weeks, Bermuda's national security minister, told reporters on Friday, adding that emergency responders would be posted at strategic areas in Bermuda.
By Friday afternoon, Ernesto's winds had knocked out power for 5,400 of Bermuda's 36,000 customers, the power utility BELCO said. The company said it had called its repair crews back from the field because it was too dangerous to work.
Ocean swells generated by Ernesto were affecting parts of Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the east coast of the United States, the hurricane center said.
In New York, the city parks and the National Park Service announced that all beaches in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens would be closed to swimmers on Saturday and Sunday with the National Weather Service predicting dangerous rip currents and swells of up to 6 feet (2 metres), the mayor's office said.
Thumbnail image credit to REUTERS/Nicola Muirhead.
(Reporting by Jasmine Patterson and Nicola Muirhead in Bermuda; Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California, Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Writing by Frances Kerry; Editing by William Mallard and Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
