Hurricane Ernesto barreled toward Bermuda on Thursday after leaving hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico without power or water as sweltering heat enveloped the U.S. territory, raising concerns about people’s health.A hurricane warning was in effect for Bermuda, with Ernesto expected to pass near or over the island on Saturday.
The Category 1 storm was located about 495 miles (795 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda on Thursday afternoon. It had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph) and was moving north at 13 mph (20 kph) over open waters.“I cannot stress enough how important it is for every resident to use this time to prepare. We have seen in the past the devastating effects of complacency,” said National Security Minister Michael Weeks.
Ernesto was forecast to near Category 3 hurricane status on Friday and then decrease in strength as it approaches Bermuda, where it is expected to drop between 6-12 inches of rain, with up to 15 inches in isolated areas.“All of the guidance show this system as a large hurricane near Bermuda,” said the National Hurricane Center in Miami.Meanwhile, the spinning storm on Thursday was generating southern winds in Puerto Rico, which have a heating effect as opposed to the typical cooling trade winds that blow from the east.“We know a lot of people don’t have power,” said Ernesto Morales with the National Weather Service as he warned of extreme heat and urged people to stay hydrated.
More than 380,000 of 1.4 million customers remained in the dark more than a day after Ernesto swiped past Puerto Rico late Tuesday as a tropical storm before strengthening into a hurricane. A maximum of 735,000 clients were without power on Wednesday.Hundreds of thousands also were without water as many questioned the widespread power outage given that Ernesto was only a tropical storm when it spun past the island.“I haven’t slept at all,” said Ramón Mercedes Paredes, a 41-year-old construction worker who planned to sleep outdoors on Thursday night to beat the heat. “I haven’t even been able to take a shower.”
At a small park in the Santurce neighborhood of the San Juan capital, Alexander Reyna, a 32-year-old construction worker, sipped on a bright red sports drink that friends provided as roosters crowed nearby above the slap of dominoes.He had no water or power and planned to spend all day at the park as he lamented the lack of breeze, a slight film of sweat already forming on his forehead: “I have to come here because I cannot stand to be at home.”The situation worried many who lived through Hurricane Maria, a powerful Category 4 storm that hit Puerto Rico in September 2017 and was blamed for at least 2,975 deaths in its sweltering aftermath. It also razed the island’s power grid, which is still being rebuilt.The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory on Thursday warning of “dangerously hot and humid conditions.”