(Bloomberg) -- Ernesto strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane as it plowed northward toward Bermuda, threatening to drench the British territory with heavy rain and unleash flash floods.
The storm was 410 miles (660 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda according to an advisory from the US National Hurricane Center as of 11 p.m. in New York. Its top winds reached 100 miles per hour, making it a Category 2 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.
Those winds are forecast to get faster over the next day. Ernesto is expected to become a major Category 3 hurricane by about 2 p.m. Friday as it approaches Bermuda, but may weaken again by the time it reaches the island Saturday morning, according to AccuWeather Inc. The track currently shows the storm passing to the west of the island.
“It won’t be a direct hit,” Alyssa Glenny, an AccuWeather meteorologist, said in an interview. “But a Category 2 storm is nothing to joke about.”
As the storm moves north, the ocean water gets cooler and it will pass through a pocket of drier air, said Glenny. Both factors will weaken its force.
Bermuda Electric Light Co., the local electric utility, is urging residents to prepare for the storm and warning that the high winds may lead to power outages. Up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain could fall in some areas, the hurricane center said.
Bermuda may weather the storm better than Puerto Rico, which was grazed by Ernesto early Wednesday. The US territory is known for a rickety power grid that’s vulnerable to hurricanes, and more than 390,000 homes and businesses remained without power as of midday Thursday. In contrast, Bermuda’s infrastructure is sturdier, according to Glenny.
“The infrastructure in Bermuda is impressive,” she said. “They have prepared for this.”
Michael Weeks, Bermuda’s minister of national security, said in a briefing Wednesday that Ernesto is expected to bring hurricane-force force winds, dangerous seas and a high likelihood of power outages.
“It only takes one storm to cause significant damage and disrupt our way of life,” Weeks said.
(Updates storm categorization, location in first and second paragraphs.)
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