SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Ernesto strengthened to a Category 2 storm Thursday night as it barreled toward Bermuda after leaving hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico without power and water. The United States was gripped by sweltering heat.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Ernesto strengthened into a Category 2 storm Thursday night as it headed toward Bermuda after leaving hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico without power and water. The U.S. territory was hit by sweltering heat, sparking concerns about people’s health.
A hurricane warning was issued for Bermuda; Ernesto was expected to pass near or over the island on Saturday.
The storm was centered about 410 miles south-southwest of Bermuda late Thursday. Its maximum sustained wind speed had increased to 95 mph (155 km/h) and the storm was moving north-northeastward over open waters at 14 mph (22 km/h).
“I cannot stress enough how important it is for every citizen to use this time to prepare. We have seen in the past the devastating effects of complacency,” said National Security Secretary Michael Weeks.
Ernesto is forecast to reach Category 3 on Friday and then weaken as it approaches Bermuda, where rainfall of between 15 and 30 centimeters is expected, with up to 38 centimeters in isolated areas.
“All forecasts indicate this system will be a major hurricane near Bermuda,” said the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Ernesto was then expected to pass near or east of Atlantic Canada on Monday.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s swirling storm in Puerto Rico generated southerly winds that have a heating effect, in contrast to the normally cooling trade winds that blow from the east.
“We know that many people do not have electricity,” said Ernesto Morales of the National Weather Service, warning of extreme heat and urging people to drink plenty of fluids.
More than 290,000 of the country’s 1.4 million households were without power Thursday night, more than a day after Ernesto swept past Puerto Rico as a tropical storm late Tuesday before strengthening into a hurricane. As many as 735,000 homes were without power on Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands were also left without water, with many questioning the widespread power outage since Ernesto was only a tropical storm when it passed the island.
“I didn’t sleep at all,” said Ramón Mercedes Paredes, a 41-year-old construction worker who tried to sleep outside Thursday night to avoid the heat. “I couldn’t even take a shower.”
In a small park in the Santurce district of the capital San Juan, 32-year-old construction worker Alexander Reyna sipped a bright red sports drink brought to him by friends while roosters crowed nearby over the clatter of dominoes.
He had no water or electricity and wanted to spend the whole day in the park. He complained about the lack of breeze and already had a light film of sweat on his forehead: “I have to come here because I can’t stand it at home.”
The situation worried many who had lived through Hurricane Maria, a powerful Category 4 storm that hit Puerto Rico in September 2017 and was blamed for at least 2,975 deaths in its scorching heat. It also destroyed the island’s power grid, which is still being rebuilt.
The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory on Thursday, warning of “dangerously hot and humid conditions.”
Faustino Peguero, 50, said he is worried about his wife, who suffers from fibromyalgia, heart failure and other illnesses and needs electricity. He has a small generator at home, but it is running out of gas and cannot afford a new one because he has not found work.
“It’s chaos,” he said.
Officials said they did not know when power would be fully restored, as concerns grew about the health of many Puerto Ricans who cannot afford generators or solar panels on the island of 3.2 million people with a poverty rate of more than 40 percent.
Teams have flown more than 870 kilometers over Puerto Rico and found 400 power line faults, 150 of which have already been repaired, said Juan Saca, president of Luma Energy, a private company that transmits and distributes electricity in Puerto Rico. Fixing the rest of the faults will take more time because they involve fallen trees, he added.
“We haven’t seen anything catastrophic,” he said.
When asked to provide an estimate as to when power would be restored, Luma’s operations manager Alejandro González declined to provide any information.
“It would be irresponsible to give an exact date,” he said.
At least 250,000 people across Puerto Rico were left without water due to the blackouts, although the maximum number affected was 350,000. Among them was 65-year-old Gisela Pérez, who was sweating while cooking sweet plantains, pork, chicken and spaghetti at a street food stall. After her shift, she wanted to buy liters of water, as she was especially concerned about her two small dogs, Mini and Lazy.
“You can’t live without them,” she said. “They come first.”
Danica Coto, The Associated Press
