Bermuda is on hurricane watch as the fifth named storm of the season heads north from the Caribbean.
Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans had their power knocked out as Tropical Storm Ernesto unleashed high winds, heavy rains and big surf late on 13AUG and on into the morning of 14AUG. There also were reports of heavy rain in Guadeloupe and both the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.
“Puerto Rico is taking a heavy blow from the strengthening Tropical Storm Ernesto on Wednesday as the system dumps heavy rain and brings strong winds that are wreaking havoc on the island's notoriously frail power grid,” The Weather Channel said.
The storm was just shy of hurricane status as it headed north from Puerto Rico.
BERMUDA BOUND?
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the U.S. said Ernesto “is likely to bring impacts to Bermuda late this week, and interests there should monitor the progress of the system.”
BermudAir said it is closely monitoring the storm and has storm policies in place.
“If we need to cancel any flights because of the storm customers with bookings on the affected flights will be entitled to a full refund‚ or alternatively they may elect to receive travel credit to the value of 125% of the original ticket value paid to be used against the cost of a future booking with BermudAir.
“If a customer with a booking on Friday 16‚ Saturday 17‚ or Sunday 18 Aug chooses not to wait to see how the storm progresses we will allow them to rebook‚ waiving the change fee or fare difference‚ for travel that must be completed during the next 60 days,” the airline said. “Alternatively the customer can choose to accept travel credit to 100% of the original booking value.”
Air Canada had travel advisories out for Punta Cana for 14AUG, saying it has “revised its ticketing policy to make it easier for customers travelling on an affected flight to make changes to their booking without penalty, space permitting.”
AC also had advisories out for Bermuda for 16AUG and 18AUG.
CRUISE ADJUSTMENTS
Cruise Industry News reports that Carnival Pride moved up its visit to Bermuda by a day, pulling into the main harbour on 13 AUG. The ship is expected to depart Bermuda on 15AUG.
“Swells generated by Ernesto … are expected to affect the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas during the next few days, and then reach the east coast of the United States and Bermuda late this week and into the weekend,” the NHC said. “These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
If it moves north from Bermuda, the storm also could impact the U.S. Northeast and Eastern Canada, which was hit by heavy rains from the remnants of Tropic Storm Debby late last week.
