Forecasters warn about Atlantic rip currents as Hurricane Ernesto tracks toward Bermuda

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Hurricane Ernesto gathered strength Thursday, taking aim at Bermuda and expected to arrive there by the weekend as "high risk" warnings are issued for potentially deadly rip currents this weekend at beaches along the U.S. east coast.

In its 2 p.m. update , the National Hurricane Center located Ernesto about 550 miles south-southwest of Bermuda in the north Atlantic Ocean with tropical storm conditions likely to begin on the island sometime by Friday afternoon.

The storm strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday and grew overnight, keeping a maximum sustained wind speed of 85 mph through Wednesday into Thursday afternoon, maintaining its course north at about 14 mph. The general motion is expected to continue into Friday, followed by a slower northeastward or north-northeastward motion into Saturday, forecasters said.

Forecasters expect Ernesto's center to pass near Bermuda by Saturday.

Bermuda remains under a hurricane watch. The storm does not pose a direct threat to the U.S. mainland, however, NHC warnings have been given to beachgoers along the U.S. east coast to be aware of "dangerous" and possibly deadly rip currents which can pull unsuspecting swimmers out to sea, a result of swells of water generated by Ernesto that will reach the east coast sometime Thursday and expected to continue through the weekend.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles from the storm's center and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles, NHC officials say.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as well as Vieques and Culebra.

NHC forecasters said the storm is expected to produce as much as 6 inches of rain on Bermuda with isolated maximum amounts of 9 inches.

Earlier in the week, Puerto Rico began to prepare.

Hurricane Maria in 2018 caused an estimated $90 billion in damage in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, NHC said. Maria was the most destructive hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in modern times and the third costliest hurricane in U.S. history behind Katrina and Harvey.

Maria also knocked down 80% of Puerto Rico's utility poles and all transmission lines, resulting in loss of power to essentially all of the island's 3.4 million residents. Nearly all cellphone and municipal water supplies also were knocked out.

The Atlantic hurricane season already has been active.

Debby was a Category 1 storm that made landfall in the Florida Panhandle and then moved through the U.S. Atlantic Coast last week.

Beryl struck parts of the Caribbean, the Yucatán Peninsula and the Gulf Coast of the United States in late June and early July.

Two tropical storms were in the Gulf of Mexico in June: Cindy and Alberto .