Breakfast News: As Hurricane Ernesto makes landfall near Bermuda, it intensifies into a Category 2 hurricane.

Breakfast News: As Hurricane Ernesto makes landfall near Bermuda, it intensifies into a Category 2 hurricane.

(Reuters) -After leaving hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans without electricity, storm Ernesto intensified into a Category 2 storm on Thursday as it headed toward Bermuda, posing a serious threat of devastation over the weekend due to strong winds and heavy rain.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) predicted that Ernesto is expected to intensify even further before making landfall late on Friday in Bermuda, a British territory located far out in the Atlantic.

It was 410 miles (660 km) south-southwest of Bermuda at 11 p.m. ET on Thursday (0300 GMT Friday), packing winds of 100 mph (155 kph).

“More intensification is expected over the course of the next day or three, and on Friday, Ernesto might approach major hurricane strength. Ernesto is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane on Saturday close to Bermuda, according to the hurricane center.

According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, a major hurricane is classified as a Category 3, 4, or 5 storm and has the potential to cause catastrophic or extremely destructive damage.

According to the hurricane center, the storm may drop up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain, which could cause flash flooding that could be fatal.

Since records began in 1851, only 11 hurricanes have made direct landfall on the 64,000-person archipelago of 181 islands that makes up Bermuda.

The most destructive hurricanes to hit Bermuda in recent memory were Hurricanes Gonzalo in 2014 and Fabian in 2003, which left most of the islands without electricity and caused damage worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Fabian was the first storm to kill four persons on the islands since 1926.

After making landfall as a tropical storm and pummeling Puerto Rico with intense rainfall, Ernesto strengthened into a hurricane on Wednesday. Pictures and footage taken on the island revealed damaged houses and cars, downed power lines, and floodwaters engulfing roads.
approximately 25 percent of all customers on U.S. territory, or approximately 407,000 homes and businesses, were still without energy as of Thursday afternoon, according to LUMA Energy, the primary power provider for the Caribbean island. LUMA reported that 300,000 clients now have power.