Ernesto is now en route to Bermuda. The storm was located about 280 kilometres north-northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It had maximum sustained winds of 120 kph and was moving northwest at 26 kph.
“The official forecast still reflects the possibility of Ernesto becoming a major hurricane in about 48 hours,” the National Hurricane Center said late Wednesday morning. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Puerto Rico and its outlying islands of Vieques and Culebra, and for the U.S.
and British Virgin Islands. “I know it was a long night listening to that wind howl,” U.S.
Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said in a news conference.
An island-wide blackout was reported in St. John and St. Croix, and at least six cell phone towers were knocked offline across the U.
S. territory, said Daryl Jaschen, emergency management director. He added that the airports in St.
Croix and St. Thomas were expected to reopen at midday. Schools and government agencies, however, remained closed in the U.
S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, where heavy flooding was reported in several areas, forcing officials to block roads, some of which were strewn with trees. Nearly 100 flights also were canceled to and from Puerto Rico.
“A lot of rain, a lot of rain,” Culebra Mayor Edilberto Romero said in a phone interview. “We have trees that have fallen on public roads. There are some roofs that are blown off.
” Ernesto is forecast to move through open waters for the rest of the week and mak.