Ernesto strengthens into hurricane off Puerto Rico as island gets slammed by power outages, flooding

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Hurricane Ernesto formed off the coast of Puerto Rico on Wednesday morning after the then-tropical storm blasted the U.S. territory with torrential rain that led to numerous reports of flooding, as well as damaging wind gusts that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of utility customers.

The tropics have been becoming more active over the past few weeks with the development of Hurricane Debby, which made its first U.S. landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, and then a second U.S. landfall in South Carolina as a tropical storm.

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What’s the forecast for Hurricane Ernesto?

According to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Hurricane Ernesto is located about 175 miles northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and about 835 miles south-southwest of Bermuda.

Hurricane Ernesto is moving off to the northwest at 16 mph and has maximum sustained winds of 75 mph with higher gusts.

The NHC says Hurricane Ernesto is expected to strengthen over the next few days, and could become a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher).

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Where are watches and warnings in effect for Hurricane Ernesto?

Tropical Storm Warnings remain in effect for Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, as Vieques and Culebra.

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Will Hurricane Ernesto impact the US mainland?

According to the NHC, Tropical Storm Ernesto is expected to make a turn to the north-northwest and then north over the western Atlantic Ocean as it moves away from Puerto Rico.

At this time, it doesn’t appear Ernesto will directly impact the mainland U.S. However, large swells generated by Ernesto are expected to reach the East Coast and Bermuda late this week and into the weekend. The large waves will likely cause life-threatening surf and rip currents at beaches.

Download the free FOX Weather app and enable notifications to be alerted to any changes to the forecast for Hurricane Ernesto.

Ernesto blasts Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands with flooding rain, damaging winds

The U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have been blasted by the effects of then-Tropical Storm Ernesto as the storm moved across the region overnight and into Wednesday.

Numerous Flash Flood Warnings have been issued across Puerto Rico, including in San Juan, where FOX Weather Correspondent Nicole Valdes has been hunkering down and gathering information on how the storm is impacting the island.

“Today, where we were looking at one of the major threats for the mainland here was, in fact, all this rain turning into that flood threat,” Valdes said. “We’ve seen some of it really pull up in those mountainous regions where you get a lot more rain that falls, but you also have a lot of it that moves, really, into low-lying areas and low-lying rivers.”

Flooding has been a major concern in Puerto Rico, and there have been reports of people being trapped in vehicles and homes as rushing floodwaters cut off escape routes.

Power outages have also skyrocketed across the region, with Luma Energy reporting more than 560,000 outages island-wide.

But it’s not only Puerto Rico that is feeling the storm’s effects.

The U.S. Virgin Islands were also blasted with strong winds and heavy rain, and a majority of the islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix are without power.

According to PowerOutage.us, more than 46,000 power outages have been reported and continue to climb.

Schools were closed across the region on Tuesday, and government officials for the U.S. Virgin Islands said government offices would be closed on Wednesday.

Tropical Storm Ernesto made landfall in the British Virgin Islands on Tuesday night with 65-mph winds, making it a strong tropical storm.

Video from the area shows the torrential rain and damaging winds whipping across the region as the full effects of Tropical Storm Ernesto were being felt.