Hurricane Imelda pummels Bermuda as airport, schools and government offices close

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Imelda lashed Bermuda as a Category 2 storm late Wednesday as officials locked up the tiny British territory.

Heavy winds and rain that began pummelling the island on Wednesday afternoon were expected to continue through Thursday, with the eye of the storm forecast to pass near Bermuda overnight.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Bermuda, a wealthy overseas territory with strong structures that have withstood powerful storms in previous years.

Imelda was located about 100 miles (160 kilometres) west-southwest of Bermuda. It had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) and was moving east-northeast at 24 mph (39 kph), according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"This is a dangerous storm system that could bring destructive winds, heavy rainfall and significant coastal impacts," said Michael Weeks, Bermuda's national security minister.

Bermuda closed its public schools, government offices and international airport on Wednesday as it deployed 100 soldiers to secure infrastructure, clear roads and help at emergency shelters ahead of the storm.

Imelda is expected to drop up to four inches (10 centimetres) of rain across Bermuda and produce a dangerous storm surge that forecasters say could unleash flooding.

Hundreds of customers were without power ahead of the storm.

The National Hurricane Center warned that the strongest winds may occur early Thursday morning after the center has passed Bermuda.

Earlier in the week, Imelda battered the northern Caribbean, unleashing widespread flooding in eastern Cuba, where two people died.

In the province of Guantánamo, more than 18,000 people were evacuated, while in Santiago de Cuba, flooding and landslides cut off access to 17 communities where more than 24,000 people live, according to state reports.

On Wednesday, more than 3,500 people remained evacuated in Guantánamo while crews began to repair damaged roads and bridges in the area.

Meanwhile, authorities in Haiti said that one person is missing and two were injured following heavy flooding in the country's southwest and northwest regions.

Hurricane Humberto, which had been racing ahead of Imelda, dissipated on Wednesday after passing west of Bermuda on Tuesday. Its remnants were named Storm Amy by UK forecasters, who warned it would affect much of Ireland and the UK starting on Friday.

Imelda and Humberto's remnants were generating dangerous surf and deadly rip currents affecting beaches along the north Caribbean, Bahamas, Bermuda and much of the US East Coast.

At least five unoccupied houses along North Carolina's Outer Banks collapsed into the ocean on Tuesday, according to the US National Park Service, marking the latest private beachfront structures to fall into the surf there in recent years.

This Atlantic hurricane season marks the first time in 10 years that a hurricane hasn't made landfall in the US through the end of September, according to AccuWeather, a private US weather forecasting company.

"This hurricane season so far is quite unique, with several close calls for the United States," said Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather's lead hurricane expert.

Only Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall in the US earlier this year.

He noted that Humberto pulled Imelda away from the US East Coast in what's known as the Fujiwhara Effect, a rare phenomenon in the Atlantic in which two storms are so close together that they start rotating counterclockwise around each other.

Humberto and Imelda were a mere 467 miles (751 kilometres) apart earlier this week, the closest distance recorded between two Atlantic hurricanes since 1853, according to Michael Lowry, a hurricane specialist and storm surge expert.

While the Atlantic hurricane season is winding down, DaSilva urged people to remain alert.

"We expect atmospheric conditions that could support tropical storms and hurricanes well into late October and November this year," he said.

Imelda reached hurricane strength on Tuesday, becoming the Atlantic season's fourth hurricane this year.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms. Of those, five to nine were forecast to become hurricanes, including two to five major hurricanes, which pack winds of 111 mph (178 kph) or greater.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.

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