Tropical Storm Ernesto was passing through Puerto Rico on Tuesday night with winds of 65 mph, but is forecast to become a hurricane by Wednesday morning as it passes over the U.S. territory.
The storm was about 60 miles east-northeast of San Juan at 11 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time and was moving northwest at 17 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in a bulletin.
Maximum sustained winds of 65 mph were 9 miles per hour below the 74 mph threshold for a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The storm will likely become a hurricane by Wednesday morning, the hurricane center said.
“As Ernesto moves into the open waters of the Western Atlantic, it will strengthen significantly – potentially becoming a powerful hurricane,” National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said Tuesday night.
The center of the storm is expected to pass over Puerto Rico on Wednesday and then gradually slow down, according to the meteorological agency.
Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi on Tuesday asked people not to leave their homes after 6 p.m. because of stormy conditions.
Authorities also predicted widespread power outages across the island, as Puerto Rico’s power grid has not been permanently rebuilt since Hurricane Maria destroyed it in 2017.
Vieques and Culebra, island municipalities about 7 miles off the east coast of Puerto Rico, were placed under a hurricane warning, Ernesto Rodríguez, director of the National Weather Service in San Juan, said during a news conference.
“We must not let our guard down,” said Rodríguez.
A hurricane warning was also issued for the US and British Virgin Islands. The watch remained in effect Tuesday night.
The storm will cross the western Atlantic later in the week.
Ernesto could produce storm totals of 4 to 6 inches of rain over the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, and up to 10 inches of rain in southeastern Puerto Rico, the National Hurricane Center said. Northwest Puerto Rico was forecast to see a storm surge total of 5 to 10 centimeters.
The size and potential power of the storm, should it become a powerful hurricane, means that beachgoers in the continental United States could be affected.
On Tuesday night, tropical storm-force winds extended from the center of the storm for up to 125 miles, and this was like a tropical storm, according to the hurricane center.
The U.S. East Coast, although far from the center of the storm, could experience dangerous rip currents later this week and into the weekend, Rhome, the agency’s deputy director, said Tuesday.
A 3-foot storm surge could be seen in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, the hurricane center said.
Puerto Rico activated the National Guard and canceled the start of classes in public schools, the Associated Press reported.
Kathryn Prociv and Antonio Planas contributed.
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