The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico was hit by heavy rains from Tropical Storm Ernesto, which forced the closure of schools and offices on Wednesday morning. Tropical Storm Ernesto is strengthening in the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become the season’s third hurricane by later this morning.
As Ernesto passes north into the US territory, local authorities are still expecting widespread disruption, power outages and heavy rains. The Puerto Rican government said 344 evacuation centres had been set up and public transport had been halted.
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi urged residents to take shelter indoors by Tuesday evening after forecasters predicted up to 10 inches of rain could fall on the island’s southeast, causing landslides and widespread flooding. The storm was about 85 miles north of the capital, San Juan, early Wednesday morning.
A warning sign reads “Danger, no swimming” on a beach in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, on Tuesday. Jaydee Lee Serrano/AFP – Getty Images
“We are especially warning tourists and our own citizens to stay away from the ocean. Ocean conditions will be very dangerous, especially in the northern and eastern parts of Puerto Rico,” the governor said.
Ernesto’s maximum sustained winds reached nearly 70 mph as of 5 a.m. Wednesday, well short of the 76 mph required for hurricane classification, according to the NHC. Ernesto will continue to strengthen out of warm waters in the Atlantic and “could become a major hurricane within days,” the NHC said.
A hurricane watch has been issued for the British Virgin Islands, and a tropical storm watch has been issued for the tourist-popular US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra.
The storm is expected to pass north of Puerto Rico on Wednesday before approaching Bermuda on Saturday.
People prepare for Tropical Storm Ernesto in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, on Tuesday. Jaydee Lee Serrano/AFP – Getty Images
“I hope it gets better soon,” Jose Rodriguez, 36, told The Associated Press as he climbed onto the roof of his uncle’s wooden shack to protect his family’s fried food stand in the Afro-Caribbean community of Piñones on Puerto Rico’s north coast.
Shocking video posted on social media shows sailors being rescued from a tugboat that ran aground off the coast of St. Martin after being hit by strong winds and heavy rain on Tuesday.
Ernesto is the fifth named storm in what is already an unusually busy hurricane season.
