Hurricane Ernesto dumped torrential rain on Puerto Rico on Wednesday and knocked out power to about half of the U.S. territory’s customers, and threatened to strengthen into a major hurricane as it approaches Bermuda.
The storm was over open waters late Wednesday night about 1,110 kilometres south-southwest of Bermuda, with maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometres per hour and moving northwest at 26 kilometres per hour.
A hurricane warning was issued for Bermuda, while Tropical Storm Warnings were discontinued for Puerto Rico and its outlying islands of Vieques and Culebra, and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.
“I know it’s going to be a long night listening to that howling wind,” U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said at a news conference.
Island-wide blackouts were reported on St. Croix, and at least six cellphone towers were down across the U.S. territory, Emergency Management Director Daryl Jashen said.
Schools and government agencies were closed in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, where heavy flooding was reported in many areas, forcing authorities to close roads, some of which were blocked by trees. More than 140 flights to and from Puerto Rico were canceled.
“It’s rained a lot, a lot of rain,” Culebra Mayor Edilberto Romero said in a phone interview. “We have trees that have fallen on public roads. Some roofs have blown off.”
Flood warning continues due to incessant rainfall.
In the northern coastal city of Toa Baja, which remains prone to flooding, dozens of residents have moved their cars to higher areas.
“Everybody is worried,” said Victor Baez, drinking beer with friends and watching the rain fall. He celebrated only briefly that he had electricity. “It’s going to go out again,” he predicted.
Category 1 Hurricane Ernesto is forecast to strengthen in the coming days and possibly become a Category 3 major hurricane by Friday, with its center expected to pass near Bermuda on Saturday.
“Residents should start preparing now before conditions worsen,” said Bermuda’s Minister of National Security Michael Weeks. “Now is not the time for complacency.”
Forecasters also warned of heavy waves along the river. east coast of america,
“What this means is that anybody who goes to the beach, even if the weather is beautiful and nice, it can be dangerous — with those strong currents,” said Robbie Berg, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.
Rainfall of 4 to 6 inches is forecast in the US and British Virgin Islands, 6 to 8 inches in Puerto Rico and up to 10 inches in isolated areas.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said Wednesday that more than 640,000 customers in Puerto Rico have lost power and 23 hospitals are running on generators. He said workers were assessing the damage and it was too early to know when power would be restored.
“We are trying to get the system operational as soon as possible,” said Juan Saca, president of Luma Energy, the company that operates the transmission and distribution of electricity in Puerto Rico.
Luma Energy said earlier Wednesday that its priority was restoring power to hospitals, the island’s water and sewer company and other essential services. Pierluisi said the outages left more than 300,000 customers without water.
Puerto Rico’s power grid was devastated by Category 4 Hurricane Maria in 2017, and remains vulnerable while teams continue to rebuild the system.
“It is disappointing that after all these years we are still seeing such widespread power outages in Puerto Rico due to an event like a hurricane, especially considering that these outages can put vulnerable families in Puerto Rico at risk,” said Charlotte Gosset Navarro, lead director of the Hispanic Federation for Puerto Rico.
Not everyone can afford a generator on the island of 3.2 million, where the poverty rate is over 40%.
“People already prepare themselves with candles,” said Luca Rodriguez, a 31-year-old street vendor.
Rooftop solar power systems are rare but growing in number in Puerto Rico, where fossil fuels generate 94% of the island’s electricity. When the storm struck, there were 8,000 rooftop solar plants, while there are more than 117,000 today, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
Ernesto is the fifth named storm and third hurricane of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. Since 1966, only four other years have had three or more hurricanes in the Atlantic by mid-August, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Philip Klotzbach.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted this year’s hurricane season in the Atlantic will be above average as ocean temperatures reach record highs. It has forecast 17 to 25 named storms, four to seven of which will be major hurricanes.