Despite being hundreds of miles offshore, Hurricane Ernesto has had a significant impact along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. The storm's effects were felt on Saturday with dangerous rip currents leading to the closure of public beaches during a busy summer weekend. High surf and swells caused damage along the coast, including the collapse of an unoccupied beach house in North Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center reported that Ernesto, which made landfall in Bermuda, remains a large hurricane with a wide footprint of seas and waves affecting the central Florida Atlantic coastline up to Long Island, New York. This has resulted in high seas and significant rip current threats along the eastern U.S. coastline.
Rip currents, described as powerful, fast-moving channels of water, have been moving at speeds of up to 8 feet per second, posing a risk to swimmers. In response to the dangerous conditions, ocean-facing beaches in New York City were closed for swimming and wading over the weekend.
Further south in North Carolina's Outer Banks, a beach house collapsed in Rodanthe, with no reported injuries. This incident marks the seventh house collapse in the past four years along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, highlighting the vulnerability of low-lying barrier islands to storm surges and rising sea levels.
The National Park Service has advised visitors to avoid the Rodanthe beaches due to dangerous debris and elevated sea conditions. Coastal flooding and high surf advisories have been issued for the Outer Banks through early Monday, with warnings of rip currents and large waves extending to Virginia and Maryland beaches.
In Bermuda, tens of thousands of utility customers lost power as the category 1 storm brought heavy rain and the threat of flash flooding. The National Weather Service continues to monitor the situation and urges caution for residents and visitors along the affected coastlines.
