Hurricane Felix Grows, Aims for Bermuda
MIAMI — Felix, the most powerful Atlantic hurricane in two years, intensified Saturday and headed for Bermuda, where forecasters warned it could cause serious damage beginning tonight.
Felix’s top winds grew to 130 m.p.h., and its eye was winding tighter, to 18 miles wide, a sign of further strengthening, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
In the Pacific, Hurricane Flossie spawned storms that raked the Southwest with hail, rain and 76 m.p.h. winds, knocking out electricity around Tucson and causing flash floods that killed a motorist. Flossie weakened into a tropical storm Saturday as it moved farther out to sea.
At 11 p.m. EDT, Felix was about 475 miles south-southeast of Bermuda, moving northwest about 13 m.p.h. on a path that would probably carry the eye 30 miles west of the island at 5 p.m. Monday.
Forecaster Lixon Avila cautioned that hurricanes are unpredictable and that the center’s predictions could be off by as much as 100 miles.
Still, hurricane-force winds of 75 m.p.h. and above extended up to 40 miles from the eye of Felix, so even if it passes nearby it could cause significant damage on the island.
Gavin Shorto, the British colony’s information officer, said a hurricane watch was in effect, and residents were securing boats and buying supplies.
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