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Ernesto strengthens to Category 1 hurricane after lashing Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
Ernesto strengthened to a hurricane Wednesday after lashing Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with flooding rainfall and damaging winds that have left hundreds of thousands without power.Ernesto, the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph – making it a Category 1 storm – as of 11 a.m. Wednesday. Its center was about 175 miles northwest of San Juan after passing over the Virgin Islands on Tuesday and then sidestepping Puerto Rico. As a result, more than 300,000 customers in Puerto Rico were without power Wednesday morning, according to LUMA Energy, the private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, nearly 46,000 customers were without power, which is about 92% of the island’s tracked customers, according to PowerOutage.us.Nearly a half a foot of rain had fallen so far in Puerto Rico and the storm’s trailing bands of storms continued to unload it Wednesday morning, causing flash flooding — especially in the eastern and southern parts of Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands.Multiple flash flood warnings were in effect Wednesday morning including for the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John and in eastern and southern portions of Puerto Rico and its islands of Vieques and Culebra. Along Puerto Rico’s eastern coastline, storm surge could raise water levels by as much as 3 feet and life-threatening swells and rip tides that could prove dangerous for anyone in the water.Ahead of the storm, Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi mobilized the National Guard and urged people to shelter in their homes. Across the island, public schools are closed and nearly 80 shelters have been opened.Residents were also warned to brace for widespread power outages as the island’s fragile and outdated electrical grid is still being repaired after it was crippled by Hurricane Maria in 2017.Power outages are a familiar frustration among Puerto Ricans, many of whom have witnessed painstakingly slow efforts to modernize an electrical grid that remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters.LUMA Energy said it has mobilized crews across the islands to respond to outages. And LUMA’s president, Juan Saca, urged people to report blackouts, noting the utility may not be aware of them all.“Puerto Rico’s electrical system is not sufficiently modernized to detect power outages,” Saca said Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be able to aid Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with immediate storm response, including search and rescue operations and generator supplies, agency spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg told CNN.But the agency’s disaster relief fund is out of money for the second consecutive year, a consequence of climate change, one official told CNN, as the country experiences an exceptional number of $1 billion weather and climate disasters again this year.FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell shifted the agency into so-called immediate needs funding on Aug. 7, agency spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg told CNN. The agency is waiting for Congress to pass a $9 billion supplemental funding request to replenish the agency’s disaster relief fund, but the House and Senate are in recess for the rest of August. It’s unclear when they will address the fund when they are back.Rothenberg stressed FEMA has enough resources to respond to Ernesto and any other disasters that creep up in the meantime.“I don’t want the people of Puerto Rico and USVI to be worried about this at all,” Rothenburg said.Where Ernesto is headed nextErnesto will begin curving gradually to the north on Wednesday, bringing it away from the Caribbean and into open Atlantic waters, where it is expected to strengthen further.Ernesto will become a powerful Category 3 major hurricane late this week and could retain that strength or be a strong Category 2 hurricane as it passes near Bermuda this weekend. How significant of a blow the storm will deliver to Bermuda depends on how close it gets to the tiny island, which is a third of the size of Washington, D.C.Ernesto’s strength will be fueled by very warm ocean water, a consequence of global temperature rise from fossil fuel pollution, and minimal storm-disrupting upper level winds.Ernesto will have wide-reaching impacts later this week and this weekend despite a track somewhere over the open Atlantic.The storm will churn up seas hundreds of miles away and could create dangerous rip currents for the U.S. East Coast, the Bahamas and parts of the Caribbean into early next week.
Ernesto strengthened to a hurricane Wednesday after lashing Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with flooding rainfall and damaging winds that have left hundreds of thousands without power.
Ernesto, the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph – making it a Category 1 storm – as of 11 a.m. Wednesday. Its center was about 175 miles northwest of San Juan after passing over the Virgin Islands on Tuesday and then sidestepping Puerto Rico.
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As a result, more than 300,000 customers in Puerto Rico were without power Wednesday morning, according to LUMA Energy, the private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, nearly 46,000 customers were without power, which is about 92% of the island’s tracked customers, according to PowerOutage.us.
Nearly a half a foot of rain had fallen so far in Puerto Rico and the storm’s trailing bands of storms continued to unload it Wednesday morning, causing flash flooding — especially in the eastern and southern parts of Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands.
Multiple flash flood warnings were in effect Wednesday morning including for the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John and in eastern and southern portions of Puerto Rico and its islands of Vieques and Culebra.
Along Puerto Rico’s eastern coastline, storm surge could raise water levels by as much as 3 feet and life-threatening swells and rip tides that could prove dangerous for anyone in the water.
Ahead of the storm, Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi mobilized the National Guard and urged people to shelter in their homes. Across the island, public schools are closed and nearly 80 shelters have been opened.
Residents were also warned to brace for widespread power outages as the island’s fragile and outdated electrical grid is still being repaired after it was crippled by Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Power outages are a familiar frustration among Puerto Ricans, many of whom have witnessed painstakingly slow efforts to modernize an electrical grid that remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters.
LUMA Energy said it has mobilized crews across the islands to respond to outages. And LUMA’s president, Juan Saca, urged people to report blackouts, noting the utility may not be aware of them all.
“Puerto Rico’s electrical system is not sufficiently modernized to detect power outages,” Saca said Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be able to aid Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with immediate storm response, including search and rescue operations and generator supplies, agency spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg told CNN.
But the agency’s disaster relief fund is out of money for the second consecutive year, a consequence of climate change, one official told CNN, as the country experiences an exceptional number of $1 billion weather and climate disasters again this year.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell shifted the agency into so-called immediate needs funding on Aug. 7, agency spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg told CNN. The agency is waiting for Congress to pass a $9 billion supplemental funding request to replenish the agency’s disaster relief fund, but the House and Senate are in recess for the rest of August. It’s unclear when they will address the fund when they are back.
Rothenberg stressed FEMA has enough resources to respond to Ernesto and any other disasters that creep up in the meantime.
“I don’t want the people of Puerto Rico and USVI to be worried about this at all,” Rothenburg said.
Where Ernesto is headed next
Ernesto will begin curving gradually to the north on Wednesday, bringing it away from the Caribbean and into open Atlantic waters, where it is expected to strengthen further.
Ernesto will become a powerful Category 3 major hurricane late this week and could retain that strength or be a strong Category 2 hurricane as it passes near Bermuda this weekend. How significant of a blow the storm will deliver to Bermuda depends on how close it gets to the tiny island, which is a third of the size of Washington, D.C.
Ernesto’s strength will be fueled by very warm ocean water, a consequence of global temperature rise from fossil fuel pollution, and minimal storm-disrupting upper level winds.
Ernesto will have wide-reaching impacts later this week and this weekend despite a track somewhere over the open Atlantic.
The storm will churn up seas hundreds of miles away and could create dangerous rip currents for the U.S. East Coast, the Bahamas and parts of the Caribbean into early next week.
Boston Live News