Hurricane Ernesto reached Bermuda after hitting Puerto Rico at the beginning of the week.    Photo: EFE

Miami, August 18 (RHC)-- Authorities in the Bermuda Islands reported on Saturday that Hurricane Ernesto hit their territory with strong winds and heavy rains that seriously affected their infrastructure by leaving a large part of the population without electricity.

According to reports from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States, the meteorological phenomenon reached Bermuda after hitting Puerto Rico at the beginning of the week, it is currently moving away from Bermuda land although somewhat weakened as a tropical storm that maintains strength and speed of translation.

Ernesto made landfall in Bermuda with maximum winds of 137 kilometers per hour.  At 6:00 p.m. local time, Ernesto was more than 130 kilometers northeast of the archipelago, located along the east coast of the United States, and is expected to leave between 175 and 225 millimeters of rain.

The electric company Belco reported that the storm has left almost 26,000 of its customers in Bermuda without electricity, which constitutes more than 70 percent of its users in this archipelago of about 64,000 inhabitants.

This week, Hurricane Ernesto caused heavy rains in Puerto Rico, where it left 600,000 people without electricity and in the opinion of the United States Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this year's hurricane season in the Atlantic is expected to be hectic, as the high ocean temperature increases the intensity of these formations.