AP – Tropical Storm Ernesto became a hurricane again on Sunday as it churned away from Bermuda and headed further out in the northeastern Atlantic, sending powerful swells toward the United States (US) East Coast, generating rip currents associated with at least one death and prompting many rescues.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ernesto’s maximum sustained winds were 120 kilometres per hour (kph), just barely Category 1 strength.
More strengthening was forecast before Ernesto weakens and becomes a post-tropical cyclone, the hurricane centre said.
The storm was cantered about 840km south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was expected to pass near southeastern Newfoundland.
Swells generated by Ernesto were affecting portions of the Bahamas, Bermuda, the US East Coast as well as the Canadian Atlantic coast.
Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions are likely in these areas during the next couple of days, the hurricane centre said.
The National Weather Service posted a coastal flood advisory and warned of a high risk for rip currents along the Atlantic Coast through the evening.
The agency said the rip currents “can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water”.
A warning extended from Florida to the Boston area and portions of Maine. In periods of high risk, rip currents become potentially more frequent, posing a danger to all levels of swimmers, said meteorologist Mike Lee in Mount Holly, New Jersey. “It’s going to be dangerous out in the water today,” he said.
