Hurricane Ernesto pounded Bermuda on Saturday with powerful winds and 35-foot (10-meter) waves while drenching the British island territory with rain that could produce deadly flooding. Power was out for more than 70% of the territory’s 36,000 customers.
The eye of the storm passed over the west end of the archipelago early Saturday as it moved toward the north-northeast and as of 11 am EDT it was 50 miles (75 km) away from Bermuda, the US National Weather Service said. The Category 1 storm brought maximum sustained winds of 140km/h to Bermuda – home to about 64,000 people –as it made landfall early on Saturday. Ernesto was expected to slowly depart Bermuda over the course of the day, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the US. (Agencies) page 7