Tropical Storm Ernesto re-strengthened into a hurricane on Sunday as it moved away from Bermuda and further into the northeast Atlantic, sending powerful waves toward the U.S. East Coast and creating rip currents that resulted in at least one death and numerous rescues.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that Ernesto’s maximum sustained wind speed was 75 miles per hour (120 km/h), just about a Category 1 storm.
Further strengthening was forecast over the next 12 hours. Ernesto is then expected to weaken and become a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday, the hurricane center said. The storm’s center was about 520 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and it was expected to pass near southeastern Newfoundland late Monday and early Tuesday.
The waves generated by Ernesto affected parts of the Bahamas, Bermuda, the US East Coast and the Canadian Atlantic coast. Life-threatening surf and current conditions are likely in these areas in the coming days, the hurricane center said.
The National Weather Service had previously issued a coastal flood warning and warned of a high risk of rip currents along the Atlantic coast through Monday evening, which could “drive even the best swimmers from shore into deeper waters.”
A warning was extended from Florida to the Boston area and parts of Maine.
During high-risk periods, rip currents become more likely and may occur more frequently, posing a danger to swimmers of all levels, not just inexperienced ones, said meteorologist Mike Lee of Mount Holly, New Jersey.
“It’s going to be really dangerous out in the water today,” he said.
In New Jersey’s Manasquan Inlet, a fisherman was washed off the north pier on Saturday but was quickly rescued by lifeguards. The victim had knee and back injuries and a possible concussion and was taken to a hospital, lifeguard chief Doug Anderson told NJ Advance Media. Lifeguards rescued at least five other people.
In Ventnor, to the south, Senior Lt. Meghan Holland of the town’s beach patrol said eight people were rescued.
Meteorologists reported, citing the local emergency management agency, that a 41-year-old man drowned in a rip current in Surf City, North Carolina, on Saturday.
Two men drowned in separate incidents on Hilton Head Island in the US state of South Carolina on Friday. It is unclear whether rip currents played a role, reported the “Island Packet” from Hilton Head, citing a lifeguard spokesman.
Rough surf contributed to an unoccupied beach house collapsing into the water at Cape Hatteras National Seashore on North Carolina’s Outer Banks Friday night. Coast Guard officials urged the public Sunday to avoid beaches in parts of the village of Rodanthe, where several oceanfront buildings sustained “significant damage.” Debris cleanup is expected in the next few days.
Flash flood warnings were issued for parts of Connecticut and southeastern New York, and flash flood warnings and advisories were in effect for areas of Delaware, New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania. Meteorologists warned of flooding in low-lying areas.
Flooding in parts of western Connecticut caused road closures, required rescue efforts and caused a minor landslide on Sunday.
Southbury police urged residents in a Facebook post to stay home while roads are closed and emergency crews respond to emergencies. In nearby Danbury, city officials said in a statement that a landslide had forced the evacuation of a home.
Jerry Larsen, mayor of East Hampton Village on Long Island, New York, said the beaches were closed to swimmers on Saturday and Sunday because the water reaches the base of the dunes at high tide, “so you can’t really have people sitting on the beach.”
Many people looked at the water from the parking lot on Sunday, he added.
“It’s an impressive sight when the water almost reaches the parking lot. And considering the storm was hundreds of miles offshore, it must have been pretty severe,” Larsen said.
The annual fireworks display, which attracts thousands of visitors, has been cancelled for Saturday night and again for Sunday night, he said.
Ernesto weakened to a tropical storm late Saturday after bringing heavy rains and strong winds to Bermuda.
At a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Bermuda’s Minister for Security Michael Weeks said the small British territory had weathered the hurricane without any injuries or major incidents. “I would like to thank everyone for taking this storm seriously,” he said.
Steady progress was being made in clearing roads and restoring power to Bermuda, he added. Businesses were reopening and airport operations were expected to resume on Sunday.
There were no reports of major damage, said Lyndon Raynor of Bermuda’s Disaster Risk Reduction Mitigation Team. BELCO, Bermuda’s power company, said 50 percent of customers had power, but more than 8,000 were without it on Sunday.
Ernesto had earlier battered the northeastern Caribbean, leaving tens of thousands of people in Puerto Rico without water. National power utility LUMA said it had restored power to more than 1.4 million customers, but service data Sunday showed more than 55,000 people were without electricity.
After cleanup and debris removal, the Virgin Islands Department of Education said all public schools would resume operations on Monday. Public schools in Puerto Rico were also scheduled to begin classes on Monday, nearly a week after the original opening date.
