Fortified Bermuda braces for powerful Hurricane Fiona
The beach chairs and umbrellas were put away, storefronts were covered and a lighthouse illuminated racing clouds overhead as Bermuda braced Thursday for Hurricane Fiona, a powerful Category 4 storm that has left a trail ...
Wind and waves were picking up as darkness fell over the British territory, and Bermudians rushed to the safety of their sturdy homes ahead of the storm, whose center will pass more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the west-northwest of the island early Friday, according to the Bermuda Weather Service.
Fiona remained a Category 4 storm, the second-highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale, though Accuweather forecasters said it could be downgraded to a Category 3 as it passes Bermuda around 5:00 am (0800 GMT).
With a storm of that strength and size, residents were taking no chances.
"This storm is going to be worse than the last one," Richard Hartley, owner of the Torwood Home store in the capital, Hamilton, told AFP as he and his wife covered the shop's cedar-lined windows with metal sheets.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the Fiona was packing maximum sustained winds of near 130 miles per hour, with higher gusts.
Hurricane force winds extend more than 70 miles from the storm's eye, and tropical storm force winds up to 200 miles, the NHC said, predicting up to four inches (10 centimeters) of rain and "large and destructive" waves and storm surge.
In this handout photo courtesy of the US Air Force a 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron aircrew from Keesler Air Force Base, Missouri, flies a data collection mission into Hurricane Fiona on September 22, 2022.
The outdoor furniture has been removed and windows boarded up at Henry VII restaurant on Bermuda's South Shore ahead of Hurricane Fiona on September 22, 2022.