WASHINGTON: Hurricane Imelda is now a Category 2 storm churning towards Bermuda with sustained winds of 100 miles per hour.
The storm threatens the archipelago with damaging waves and significant flooding risks.
The US National Hurricane Center reported the storm was located about 340 miles southwest of Bermuda at 11:00 am Eastern Time.
Its core is expected to pass near Bermuda on Wednesday evening before moving away by Thursday morning.
Bermuda’s Minister of National Security Michael Weeks urged residents to treat the storm with the utmost seriousness.
Authorities have ordered the closure of the Causeway, the vital bridge connecting the islands.
Public transport has been suspended and the airport along with government offices have been shut.
An emergency storm centre has been opened to coordinate the response to the hurricane.
Local footage from Bernews.com showed rough waves already pounding the island’s idyllic shorelines.
The National Hurricane Center forecasts two to four inches of rain from Wednesday into Thursday.
This rainfall significantly raises the risk of dangerous flash flooding across the territory.
A dangerous storm surge combined with large waves is expected to produce coastal inundation.
The British territory was recently affected by the outer bands of the now-dissipated Storm Humberto.
BELCO, the island’s electricity utility, reported it was working to restore hundreds of power outages from the previous storm.
The company asked residents not to call about power outages to keep phone lines open for emergencies.
Meteorologists say an unusual interaction between the two storms helped spare the US East Coast.
The Fujiwhara interaction, where two cyclones rotate around each other, prevented a US landfall.
This interaction stopped Imelda from making landfall on South Carolina’s coast as initially feared.
The Atlantic hurricane season continues through November 30 with an above-normal forecast.
No storms have made landfall in the United States so far during this hurricane season. – AFP
