The National Hurricane Center has warned residents on the US East Coast to be wary of potentially ‘life-threatening’ storm swells expected to start tonight as a result of Hurricane Ernesto.
In their latest advisory notice, they said, “Swells generated by Ernesto are affecting portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the southeastern Bahamas.”
“These swells will spread toward Bermuda and the rest of the Bahamas later today.
More: Hurricane Ernesto leaves hundreds of thousands without power in Puerto Rico
“Swells are expected to reach the east coast of the United States tonight and continue into the weekend,” they added.
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“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
This comes as more than 700,000 people were reported to have lost power as a result of the storm in Puerto Rico yesterday afternoon – despite the storm not yet reaching its maximum strength.
Luma Energy, the territory’s biggest energy provider, said that around half of its customers were without power.
Extreme weather has already impacted the US and British Virgin Islands and Bermuda in addition to Puerto Rico, bringing torrential rain, rip currents and strong winds.
Bermuda is currently the only area which has been placed under hurricane watch as the storm is expected to strengthen over the coming days before becoming a major hurricane by Friday.
Hurricane conditions are anticipated on Bermuda by Saturday.
The expected path for the storm indicates that it will continue north-west from Bermuda and it is not expected to come into direct contact with the US mainland.
However, people are being asked to keep an eye out for updates as storm trajectories can change.
