Hurricane
Ernesto made landfall in Bermuda on Saturday morning as a Category 1 storm after slamming Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands, making
travel to the Caribbean a difficult prospect.
As the storm hit, the
Bermuda International Airport said it was experiencing wind gusts up to 63 miles per hour.
According
to flightaware.com, there have been more than 18,600
flights delayed worldwide as of 11 a.m. EST this morning, but only 396 were canceled.
Ernesto will make its way up the eastern seaboard remaining off the coast and away from population centers such as Washington and Philadelphia and New York later this
weekend and this week.
The
storm has been classified as a Category 1. It isn’t necessarily as powerful as
previous storms have been, but its combination of wind and rain is knocking out
power in many spots, making life complicated for airlines.
The storm could be
responsible for up to 15 inches of rain in some areas of the Caribbean. A Category
1 hurricane can deliver winds of up to 85 mph.
United
Airlines and Delta have begun issuing travel waivers and alerts and are
reminding customers that most change fees have been dropped. Check with your
airline as the storm progresses.
Cruise
lines also could be impacted as Ernesto is expected to possibly create 40-foot
waves in the Atlantic.
It
is the fifth
named storm of the season and second in two weeks.
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