Nearly Half of Bermuda Without Power as Humberto Hits

Over 27,000 Bermudans are without electricity, according to the island’s main supplier, Belco, due to the presence of Hurricane Humberto that sits north of the island by about 140 km, whirling at the rate of 190 km per hour, as of Wednesday night.

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The category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale-storm is prompting Belco to declare the company in “emergency state” as over 80 percent of its users are left without power.

Earlier on Wednesday, the electric company told customers to refrain from using electrical products and appliances, only the case of emergencies. The National Security Minister Wayne Caines is telling residents and visitors to not leave their homes.

The United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that "a prolonged period of dangerous winds is expected to continue ... through Thursday morning, with hurricane-force winds expected during the next several hours," regarding Humberto that is hitting the island located approximately 1,300 km off the North Carolina coast.

Bermuda Governor John Rankin said military members will be conducting relief work in the wake of Hurricane Humberto that could produce waves as high as nine meters on the island’s northwest coast, and precipitation of up to 15 cm in some spots. Storm swells and flooding are being predicted for Florida's east coast line and along North Carolina beaches, according to the hurricane center.

Government offices and schools closed at noon Sept. 18, as is Hamilton Harbour. Regularly scheduled overnight flights from London, Miami and New York into the L.F. Wade International Airport were cancelled.

Humberto's eye should pass "just northwest and north of Bermuda tonight" and it is expected that from Thursday afternoon it will begin to weaken, according to the NHC based in Florida.

Meanwhile, three other major storms are hitting the Atlantic coast. Imelda, is currently a tropical depression, setting up to hit eastern Texas. Tropical Storm Jerry, still far east of the Leeward Islands, could become a hurricane by the end of the week.

Only 21 hurricanes have come within 160 km of the British island of Bermuda over the past century, with Hurricane Gonzalo in 2014 the last to make landfall there.

"They go by, but it's such a small target," CNN meteorologist Monica Garrett said. "So, they don't usually make landfall."