Hurricane Ernesto makes rare landfall on Bermuda

Hurricane Ernesto made landfall on the tiny British Atlantic territory of Bermuda early Saturday as residents hunkered down.

The wide category 1 storm was directly over the the wealthy territory at 6 a.m. Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned of strong winds, a dangerous storm surge and significant coastal flooding.

It said some 6 to 9 inches of rain was expected to fall on Bermuda. “This rainfall will likely result in considerable life-threatening flash flooding, especially in low-lying areas on the island,” it said.

Due to the large size of the storm and its slow movement, hurricane-strength winds are expected to continue until Saturday afternoon, with tropical storm-strength winds continuing well into Sunday, the Bermuda government said. Ernesto is moving toward the north-northeast at around 9 mph.

The NHC reported life-threatening surf and rip currents on the east coast of the United States and said they would reach Canada during the course of the day. Ernesto is forecast to be near or east of Newfoundland by Monday night.

According to AccuWeather, it’s uncommon for the eye of a hurricane to make landfall in Bermuda. It noted that, before today, since 1850 only 11 of 130 tropical storms that came within 100 miles of Bermuda had landfall.

Ernesto is the fifth named storm and the third hurricane of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.