Imelda becomes a hurricane, heads towards Bermuda

Hurricanes Imelda and Humberto are swirling in the western Atlantic, stirring up dangerous surf, coastal flooding, and beach erosion along the U.S. East Coast, reports say.

Bermuda is now under a hurricane warning as the islands brace for a rare back-to-back hit: Humberto skims past the archipelago Tuesday, followed by an expected direct strike from Imelda.

By Tuesday morning, Imelda had strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane, packing sustained winds near 80 mph.

The storm’s centre was located about 250 miles east of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and roughly 735 miles west-southwest of Bermuda, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) reported.

Humberto, which briefly reached the extreme strength of a Category 5 storm with winds of 160 mph on Saturday, had weakened to Category 1 status by Tuesday.

Positioned a few hundred miles northeast of Imelda, Humberto’s large circulation is expected to worsen conditions for U.S. beaches this week, pushing dangerous rip currents and large waves farther up the coast than Imelda could on its own.

Imelda moved out of the Bahamas on Monday evening, leaving behind two days of heavy rainfall, tropical storm-strength winds, and storm surge.

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