Tropical Storm Ernesto reintensified into a hurricane on Sunday and moved toward the northeast Atlantic, bringing powerful swells to the U.S. East Coast.
The National Hurricane Center said Sunday that Ernesto It became a hurricane again Maximum sustained winds were 75 mph, just barely reaching the Category 1 threshold.
Ernesto is expected to strengthen over the next 12 hours, and forecasters expect it to continue to bring waves to parts of the Bahamas, Bermuda, the US east coast and Atlantic Canada, with life-threatening surf and shore breaks “likely to continue” for the next few days. the hurricane center added.
The storm is expected to center about 520 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, early Sunday evening and move across southeastern Newfoundland late Monday or early Tuesday. Large waves are expected in the area, possibly causing coastal flooding, forecasters said.
Ernesto was upgraded to a hurricane just hours after forecasters weakened it to a tropical depression late Saturday after it brought heavy rain and strong winds to Bermuda, according to the Associated Press.
There were no injuries or major incidents in Bermuda, but Ernesto battered the northeastern Caribbean last week and caused widespread water outages in Puerto Rico.
Early Sunday, the National Weather Service issued a coastal flood watch, warning of a high risk of rip currents along the Atlantic coast through Monday night. Watches were issued from Florida to the Boston area, and flash flood watches were in effect for parts of Connecticut and southeastern New York, according to the Associated Press. Flash flood watches and advisories were in effect for areas of Delaware, New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania, the agency added.
Rough seas battered North Carolina over the weekend, causing a vacant home on the Outer Banks to collapse into the water last Friday, according to the Associated Press. Two men drowned in Hilton Head, South Carolina, in separate incidents last Friday, but it’s unclear whether rip currents were to blame. The Island Packet newspaper of Hilton Head reported.
The Associated Press reported.
