CNN
—
Hurricane Ernesto is expected to strengthen over record-hot oceans, battering Bermuda and increasing risk along much of the U.S. East Coast after slamming into Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people.
The Category 1 hurricane is strengthening and could become the second major hurricane of the season (Category 3 or higher) by the time it travels 600 miles across the Atlantic and reaches Bermuda early Saturday, where a hurricane warning has been issued.
Ernesto’s rapid strengthening is caused by extremely warm waters in the Atlantic Ocean, an increasingly common occurrence as the planet warms due to fossil fuel pollution. The second major hurricane typically doesn’t arrive until mid-September.
The center of the hurricane will pass near or over Bermuda on Saturday, but powerful wind gusts and heavy rain will arrive sooner. Downpours and tropical storm-force winds could begin as early as Friday morning on the tiny island, about one-third the size of Washington, D.C.
More strong winds and torrential rain are likely to arrive late Friday night or early Saturday morning. Ernesto could dump 4 to 8 inches of rain across the island by Saturday night, with totals approaching a foot in some places.
“This could cause major, life-threatening flooding,” the National Hurricane Center warned Thursday.
Dangerous storm surges and extensive coastal flooding are also expected when Ernesto makes its closest approach to the island on Saturday.
Ernesto will have widespread effects, even though it is still far from any large landmasses.
The hurricane will generate huge waves (possibly 40 feet high) off the Atlantic coast that will travel hundreds of miles. These waves will cause rough seas and dangerous rip currents along the US East Coast, the Bahamas, and parts of the Caribbean through early next week.
Much of the U.S. Atlantic coast will see the most dangerous coastal conditions over the weekend, when many people will be flocking to beaches. The National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, warned Thursday that “Ernesto will produce very dangerous rip currents” on Saturday and Sunday.
Rip currents can exhaust and kill even the best swimmers: At least 29 people have died in rip currents in the United States and its territories this year, according to the National Weather Service.
Ernesto is expected to move past Bermuda and pass near the Atlantic coast of Canada early next week, bringing rain, wind and rough seas.
While the center of Ernesto did not make landfall in Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, strong winds still caused power outages to hundreds of thousands of people in total.
In Puerto Rico, about half of all customers on the island temporarily lost power on Wednesday, according to LUMA Energy, the private company that operates the island’s electricity transmission and distribution services. As of Thursday afternoon, more than 300,000 people remained without power.
About 32,000 customers in the U.S. Virgin Islands were without power Thursday afternoon, more than half of the tracked customers in the islands, according to PowerOutage.us.
Heavy rains flooded the Virgin Islands late Tuesday night and into Wednesday. Much of Puerto Rico was drenched with more than a half-foot of rain, causing widespread flash flooding. In Ernesto, some places recorded nearly a foot of rain. The mountain town of Barranquitas received just over 10 inches of rain in 24 hours, while Villalba received about 9.5 inches, according to preliminary reports from the weather service.
Heavy rainfall and flooding caused several rivers in Puerto Rico to overflow and disrupted to varying degrees the water filtration process at many water treatment plants, according to the Puerto Rico Water Authority.
Water problems worsened even as Ernesto moved hundreds of miles away from Puerto Rico on Wednesday night: More than 250,000 water customers, about 20% of the total, were without drinking water by Thursday afternoon, down slightly from 300,000 earlier in the day, according to the island’s emergency portal system.
