Hurricane Teddy was on track this morning to pass about 200 miles east of the mid-Atlantic island territory and islanders were once again battened down this morning hoping for the hurricane to pass by, but preparing for the worst.
Renée Ming, the Minister of National Security, released details of precautions today in a videotaped statement which you can see here:
Ming warned that everybody should stay off the water and out of the water today, and said that Bermuda Regiment and Bermuda Electric Light Company crews were on standby to clear the roads as soon as possible once the storm danger has passed.
Schools are closed today, although teachers are expected to work from home.
Bermuda Meteorologist Mark Guishard commented that storm surge measured at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences was about six inches above the normal tide this afternoon.
He said: “High tide is coincident with the closest point of approach, so we can expect storm surge of one to two feet, and waves outside the reef reaching 20 to 30 feet.”
Maximum wave heights near the center of the hurricane have been measured at 42 feet, but the center of the hurricane is not expected to pass over Bermuda, which is surrounded by coral reefs that protect its shores from waves–the most northerly coral reefs in the world.
For a live view of the weather conditions in Bermuda, readers may examine the video feed from the Bermuda naval dockyard, where there were howling winds at dawn this morning, with shaking palm trees visible from the camera position looking out to sea.
