Storm tracker: Hurricane Ernesto hits Bermuda, brings danger to US beaches

Hurricane Ernesto’s eye was hundreds of miles from the U.S. on Saturday as it made landfall on Bermuda, but the storm will bring weekend danger to East Coast beaches, according to rip current and high surf warnings.

Over 1 million people were under high surf advisories, while another 9.7 million had statements issued for rip currents, according to the National Weather Service. (Rip currents can prove a deadly hazard for people far away from the center of a storm.)

In North Carolina, at least one coastal house collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean in the Outer Banks, local fire and rescue crew showed in a video posted Friday evening. A number of other homes are at risk of collapse as well from Ernesto, officials said.

“Ocean conditions will be dangerous for swimming due to surf height and scattered debris now,” the Chicamacomico Banks Fire and Rescue said in a social media post. “Please be cautious.”

As far north as New York City, officials closed beaches in Brooklyn and Queens for the weekend due to dangerous rip currents from Ernesto. New Jersey officials also warned of dangerous and life-threatening rip currents along the Jersey Shore.

Hurricane Ernesto is expected to continue buffeting Bermuda with heavy rains and winds Saturday as the storm slowly begins its northward path toward Canada, the National Hurricane Center said.

Bermuda was under a hurricane warning Saturday morning as the storm is expected to produce six to nine inches of rainfall on the island, possibly resulting in life-threatening flash flooding, the center said. The storm, which was located about 15 miles north-northeast of Bermuda at 8 a.m. Saturday, was producing maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.

The large, slow-moving storm is expected to continue bringing wind and rain to the island into Saturday evening, the center said. Ernesto was moving north-northeast at 9 mph on Saturday morning.

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Ernesto had already left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Puerto Rico without power and running water, when it hit the island Wednesday.  

Where is Hurricane Ernesto?

The storm made landfall as in Bermuda at 4:30 a.m. Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane, the hurricane center reported.

Ernesto is expected to increase speed toward the northeast later this weekend into early next week, with the storm's center expected to slowly depart Bermuda Saturday and move near or east of Newfoundland Monday night, the center said

Rip currents can kill, even when a hurricane is far offshore

The strong winds of a hurricane can cause dangerous waves that pose a significant hazard to mariners and coastal residents and visitors, the hurricane center said. When the waves break along the coast, they can produce deadly rip currents – even at large distances from the storm.

A report published by the American Meteorological Society last year concluded the percentage of direct deaths attributed to tropical-cyclone-related rip currents has doubled in recent years. The authors found that fatalities often occur one or two at a time from distant storms hundreds of miles offshore.

In 2008, despite the fact that Hurricane Bertha was more than a 1,000 miles offshore, the storm resulted in rip currents that killed three people along the New Jersey coast and required 1,500 lifeguard rescues in Ocean City, Maryland, over a 1 week period.

“The reason rip currents are so deadly is because all the other hazards in a hurricane have a visual cue,” the hurricane center's Jamie Rhome previously said.

‒ Doyle Rice and Dinah Voyles Pulver

When is the Atlantic hurricane season?

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.

The peak of the season is Sept. 10, with the most activity happening between mid-August and mid-October, according to the Hurricane Center.

Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY; John Gallas and Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY Network.

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

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