Hurricane Ernesto No Longer a Threat to Bermuda
HAMILTON, Bermuda - Restoration work is now underway as Hurricane Ernesto drifts farther away from the island and a Hurricane Warning has been replaced by a Tropical Storm Warning.
Ernesto made landfall in Bermuda early Saturday, as a Category 1 hurricane, with the eye of the storm passing directly over the island over a more than three-hour period.
Despite a prolonged battering, no reports of significant damage have been received.
On Sunday the Bermuda Weather Service reported that the centre of the storm was 190 miles north-northeast of Bermuda and moving away from the island at nine miles per hour.
“We are starting to see a little bit of a diminishing of the worst conditions, however, we still expect another hour or two of really strong wind gusts in the strong tropical storm force category,” said Michelle Pitcher, the director of the Bermuda Weather Service.
She added that 6.2 inches of rain have been recorded between 3pm (local time) on Friday and 3pm on Saturday, and more rain is expected.
“It looks as though we will be under a Tropical Storm Warning at least through early this evening, if not until midnight,” she said.
Lyndon Raynor, of the Disaster Risk Reduction Mitigation Team, said that the Bermuda Police Service and other emergency services are actively out on the road.
“They are reporting a number of downed trees and blocked roads,” he said.
“From a public safety point of view, if you do not have to be on the road, please stay off as this will assist our regiment, our public works and our parks department crews who are out clearing the roads and assisting Bermuda Electric Light Company (Belco) with their efforts in restoration of power.
“The Belco teams are out in full force across the island, so hopefully we will start to see the restoration of electricity across the island.”