Janice R. Andrews
After wreaking devastation and leaving more than half of Puerto Rico under total darkness, Hurricane Ernesto is now making landfall in Bermuda. About 410,000 households and businesses lost electricity as a result of the storm, which on Wednesday strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane, according to Luma Energy, Puerto Rico’s primary power provider.
Luma Energy stated that its workers were putting in great effort to restore electricity as of Thursday noon. Over 1,500 workers were on the ground, concentrating on restoring service throughout the island, according to Juan Saca, president and CEO of Luma. Saca said Reuters in a statement, “We have to assess what needs to be done to resolve it.”
As it gets closer to Bermuda, Ernesto, with gusts of up to 90 mph (150 km/h), is getting stronger. Over the course of the following 48 hours, the storm may intensify into a major hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States. Bermudans were also warned by the NHC to prepare for strong ocean surges, hazardous winds, and flash flooding.
By Friday, Bermuda, a British territory made up of eighteen1 islands in the Atlantic Ocean, should be fully affected by Ernesto. The storm is expected to strengthen into a “large hurricane” by Saturday before retreating back out to sea, according to US meteorological forecasts. Next week, when Ernesto makes its way down the U.S. East Coast, meteorologists speculate that it may brush Atlantic Canada.
As the hurricane moved into Puerto Rico, it dumped a lot of rain—up to 10 inches, or 25 centimeters, in some areas. The electricity system of the island, which was left severely damaged by previous storms like Fiona in 2022, was unable to resist the intensity of the storm. About 80% of Puerto Ricans were without electricity for almost a month due to Hurricane Fiona.
The sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season of 2024 is Ernesto. storm Beryl made history earlier this year by becoming the first Atlantic Category 5 storm ever recorded, wreaking havoc throughout the Caribbean and Texas Gulf Coast.
A earlier warning of an active hurricane season was issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which predicted that up to seven major storms with a Category 3 intensity or higher would occur. Although there isn’t a clear correlation between the frequency of hurricanes and climate change, researchers concur that the strongest storms are becoming more intense due to increasing storm surges and heavier rainfall.
Watch this space for updates as Hurricane Ernesto approaches Bermuda.
