Hurricane Ernesto knocks out power in Bermuda but major damage avoided

By Jasmine Patterson and Nicola Muirhead

BERMUDA (Reuters) -Hurricane Ernesto knocked out power, downed trees and flooded parts of Bermuda on Saturday but the British island territory appeared to have escaped major injuries or property damage, officials said after an initial assessment.

The Category 1 storm unleashed powerful winds and whipped up 35-foot (10-meter) seas, leading to power loss for 71% of the territory's 36,000 customers, officials said.

"I'm happy to report that there have been no calls for service for any major incidents or damage to any property, and those calls that we've received over the last six hours or so are primarily flooding," risk management official Lyndon Raynor said on a government video update.

Some 5.9 inches (150 mm) of rain had fallen and more was expected from the back end of the storm, Michelle Pitcher, director of the Bermuda Weather Service, said on the video.

The U.S. National Weather Service said the hurricane was tracking north-northeast. As of 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), it had moved about 85 miles (135 km) past Bermuda, which lies some 600 miles (1,000 km) off the Carolina coast, and was expected to continue moving away on Saturday.

The center of the storm is forecast to approach southeastern Newfoundland in Canada late on Monday, the U.S. weather service said.

Maximum sustained winds blew at 75 mph (120 kph) and were predicted to hold at that speed for another 48 hours, after which they should weaken, the U.S. weather service said.

Bermuda, an archipelago with a population of around 64,000, received a roughly three-hour respite when Ernesto's eye passed over the island early Saturday, but battering rain and wind resumed.

The winds were expected to weaken by late Saturday, Pitcher said.

"I think that brings some comfort that we are nearing the end of Hurricane Ernesto but we are not there yet," added Michael Weeks, Bermuda's national security minister.

Electric utility BELCO said the storm caused near island-wide outages, with about 25,800 customers without power as of Saturday afternoon.

(Reporting by Jasmine Patterson and Nicola Muirhead in Bermuda; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by William Mallard, Ana Nicolaci da Costa, Diane Craft, Paul Simao and Cynthia Osterman)