The outer bands of distant Hurricane Humberto lashed Bermuda on Tuesday ahead of a more direct pass from the newer and stronger Hurricane Imelda on the tiny British territory.
Humberto was passing well north of the island in the north Atlantic, but wind gusts and some rain were forecast into Wednesday.
Imelda had maximum sustained winds of 90 mph early Wednesday and its center was expected to be near the island by evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
CBS News
A hurricane warning for Bermuda was in effect ahead of Imelda, which was expected to strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane, with winds of at least 96 mph, according to the Bermuda Weather Service.
“I cannot overstate the seriousness of this threat,” Michael Weeks, Bermuda’s minister of national security, said of Imelda. “This is not, I must stress, a passing squall.”
He said Bermuda would endure sustained hurricane-force winds for up to six hours starting late Wednesday.
The island’s international airport, schools and government offices were to close Wednesday, and Weeks said residents should have all storm preparations completed by noon.
“Imelda has the potential to damage and disrupt our island significantly,” he said.
Bermuda is a wealthy British territory with strong concrete structures capable of withstanding serious storms.
Imelda was 455 miles west-southwest of Bermuda and was moving east-northeast at 20 mph early Wednesday, U.S. forecasters said. The storm is expected to bring hurricane-force winds to Bermuda late Wednesday, they added.
Far northwest of the island, Humberto was still at hurricane strength with 80 mph winds late Tuesday. The Category 1 storm was moving northeast at 14 mph.
Both hurricanes were creating ocean swells that were likely to cause dangerous surf conditions on Bermuda, the Bahamas and the U.S. East Coast. Five unoccupied houses along North Carolina’s Outer Banks collapsed into the ocean Tuesday as wave after wave rolled in from the Atlantic.
Earlier this week, Imelda battered eastern Cuba, killing two people, according to Prime Minister Manuel Marrero. Flooding and landslides also cut off communities and forced evacuations, according to state media.
Imelda also flooded parts of the Bahamas on Monday, with New Providence hit hard. More than a dozen public schools on that island and on nearby Grand Bahama and Abaco remained closed on Tuesday.
“The aftermath is serious,” Prime Minister Philip Davis said. “Floodwaters remain.”
Imelda, which reached hurricane strength earlier Tuesday, is the Atlantic season’s fourth hurricane this year.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms. Of those, five to nine were forecast to become hurricanes, including two to five major hurricanes, which pack winds of 111 mph or greater.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
