Tropical Storm Humberto is expected to become a hurricane Sunday as it slowly strengthens to the north of the Bahamas, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Weather forecasters have not issued any coastal watches or warnings for the storm that is moving north-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometer per hour.
NHC said late Saturday “the center of Humberto should continue to move well offshore of the east coast of Florida during the next day or so and then move away from the U.S.”
The NHC added that “swells generated by Humberto are expected to affect the northwestern Bahamas, and the coast of the U.S. from east-central Florida to North Carolina during the next few days.” The center warned that the “swells could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
Humberto’s presence forced officials to suspend aid efforts and close airports Saturday in the Bahamas as it grapples to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian. Dorian was a Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever to hit land, that wrecked the archipelago’s northwest region two weeks ago.
Guterres visits Bahamas
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday after returning from the Abaco island in the Bahamas that he was “horrified” by what he saw.
“I’ve never seen such a level of systematic devastation,” he said. “Hurricane Dorian has been classified as Category 5. I think it’s category hell.”
“But it was not powered by the devil,” Guterres warned, it was “powered by climate change.” He said the international community should learn two things from Dorian’s destruction in the Bahamas.
“First,” Guterres said, “is that we need to stop climate change. We need to make sure that we reverse the present trend where climate change is running faster than what we are.
“And second, that countries like the Bahamas that do not contribute to climate change, but are in the first line of the devastating impacts of climate change, deserve international support, to be able to fully respond to the humanitarian emergency but also to the reconstruction and the building of resilience of their communities and their islands.”