Hurricane Humberto knocked out power lines in Bermuda on Wednesday night, plunging nearly the whole Atlantic archipelago into darkness, as the storm whipped the British territory with powerful winds and heavy rain.
More than 28,000 homes and businesses had lost electricity by early evening, according to electricity company Belco.
Flights were canceled and some residents in the capital, Hamilton, covered windows with wooden planks and metal sheeting.
Even as Hurricane Humberto was moving away, Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center forecast a prolonged period of dangerous winds through Thursday and warned that dangerous breaking waves could lead to coastal flooding overnight.
Bermudan officials warned residents to stay off roads and prepare for possible tornadoes as the hurricane picked up forward speed and weather conditions worsened.
The officials also reported that people who had sought refuge in an emergency housing shelter at a public high school had to be relocated after windows were damaged.
The storm packed 193-kilometer-per-hour winds and picked up speed during the afternoon, moving at 31 km/h. Humberto was a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, the NHC said.
