{"id":55555,"date":"2025-10-01T18:54:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/55555\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T18:54:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:54:10","slug":"i-cannot-overstate-the-seriousness-of-this-threat-bermuda-braces-for-six-hour-battering-by-hurricane-imelda-with-airport-schools-and-buildings-shut-over-fears-of-major-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/55555\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I cannot overstate the seriousness of this threat’: Bermuda braces for six-hour battering by Hurricane Imelda, with airport, schools and buildings shut over fears of major damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bermuda is gearing up for a six-hour lashing from Hurricane Imelda as the island closes its airport and schools over fears of major damage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The outer bands of distant Hurricane Humberto battered Bermuda yesterday ahead of a more direct pass from the newer and stronger Imelda on the tiny British territory.<\/p>\n

Humberto was passing well north of the island in the north Atlantic, but wind gusts and some rain were forecast into today.<\/p>\n

Imelda had maximum sustained winds of 85mph last night and its center was expected to be near the island this evening, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami said.<\/p>\n

A hurricane warning for Bermuda was in effect ahead of Imelda, which was expected to strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane, according to the Bermuda Weather Service.<\/p>\n

‘I cannot overstate the seriousness of this threat,’ Michael Weeks, Bermuda’s minister of national security, said of Imelda. ‘This is not, I must stress, a passing squall.’<\/p>\n

He said Bermuda would endure sustained hurricane-force winds for up to six hours starting late this evening.<\/p>\n

The island’s international airport, schools and government offices closed today, and Mr Weeks said residents should have all storm preparations completed by noon.<\/p>\n

Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n

\"Waves <\/p>\n

Waves from Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda hit a home in Buxton, North Carolina, yesterday<\/p>\n

‘Imelda has the potential to damage and disrupt our island significantly,’ he said.<\/p>\n

Bermuda is a wealthy British territory with strong concrete structures capable of withstanding serious storms.<\/p>\n

Imelda was 520 miles west-southwest of Bermuda and was moving east-northeast at 17mph, US forecasters said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The storm is expected to bring hurricane-force winds to Bermuda late tonight night into tomorrow morning, they added.<\/p>\n

Mr Weeks said: ‘We are now facing a serious week of weather, with Hurricane Humberto due to impact us first, followed by Tropical Storm Imelda.<\/p>\n

‘I strongly urge the public to prepare, stay vigilant, and follow official updates from the Bermuda Weather Service. These storms must be taken seriously, and I encourage all residents to make safety their priority and start preparations today.’<\/p>\n

Far northwest of the island, Humberto was still hurricane strength with 80mph winds late last night.<\/p>\n

Both hurricanes were creating ocean swells that were likely to cause dangerous surf conditions on Bermuda, the Bahamas and the US East Coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A satellite image shows Hurricane Imelda (left) and Humberto (right) in the Atlantic yesterday<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The US National Hurricane Center map shows the expected track of Tropical Storm Imelda<\/p>\n

Five unoccupied houses along North Carolina’s Outer Banks collapsed into the ocean yesterday as wave after wave rolled in from the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Imelda battered eastern Cuba, killing two people, according to Prime Minister Manuel Marrero.<\/p>\n

Flooding and landslides also cut off communities and forced evacuations, according to state media.<\/p>\n

One person was also missing in Haiti after Imelda swelled rivers and caused flooding in some 35 communities, its Civil Protection Agency said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Imelda also caused significant crop destruction in a country where more than half of its nearly 12million inhabitants were expected to experience severe hunger through the first half of the year.<\/p>\n

Imelda also flooded parts of the Bahamas on Monday, with New Providence hit hard. More than a dozen public schools on that island and on nearby Grand Bahama and Abaco remained closed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

‘The aftermath is serious,’ Prime Minister Philip Davis said. ‘Floodwaters remain.’<\/p>\n

Imelda, which reached hurricane strength earlier yesterday, is the Atlantic season’s fourth hurricane this year.<\/p>\n

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of those, five to nine were forecast to become hurricanes, including two to five major hurricanes, which pack winds of 111 mph or greater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bermuda is gearing up for a six-hour lashing from Hurricane Imelda as the island closes its airport and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[539,246,61,60,43,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-55555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}