Hurricane Ernesto has intensified, reaching Category 1 status on Sunday night. The National Hurricane Center is issuing warnings about potentially hazardous conditions for beaches along the East Coast. This storm, which has already brought significant power outages and flooding to Puerto Rico and Bermuda, is now moving across the Atlantic with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. The National Hurricane Center anticipates Ernesto will cross southeastern Newfoundland late Monday into Tuesday morning.
Ernesto marks the fifth named storm and the third hurricane of the current Atlantic hurricane season. It made landfall in Bermuda early Saturday, dumping between 7 and 9 inches of rain and flooding parts of the island. Fortunately, the British Overseas Territory avoided major damage. Ernesto is now located approximately 200 miles northeast of Bermuda.
Despite moving away from Bermuda, the threat of hazardous conditions persists. High surf and life-threatening rip currents are expected to continue for the next few days along the U.S. East Coast. The entire Atlantic coast, stretching from Florida to Maine, is currently under a high-risk rip current alert. The National Hurricane Center is emphasizing the severity of the situation, stating that “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions are likely, and dangerous for all levels of swimmers.”
