'Igor' threatens direct hit

Bermuda (CMC):

Bermuda residents braced themselves for a possible direct hit at the weekend from powerful Hurricane Igor, which authorities have likened to a storm seven years ago that killed four people.

Even though Igor is more than 800 miles away, a small craft warning was issued in Bermuda yesterday, with southeasterly swells building and seas increasing inside the reef two to three feet.

Government has said Bermuda has not seen a hurricane as severe as Igor since Hurricane Fabian, while NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has called it "a monstrous storm" and the Bermuda Weather Service has said people should prepare for a "virtual direct hit".

On September 4, 2003 Fabian hit Bermuda directly, sweeping four people to their deaths as they tried to cross the Causeway, a low-lying bridge linking the east end, including the international airport, to the rest of the island, and causing millions of dollars worth of damage. A number of hotels were forced to close for several months.

Should hit at category 2

Although the hurricane is expected to weaken slightly before it reaches the Bermuda area over the weekend, it is still projected to be a Category 2 storm packing winds of 110 mph.

Virtually all projections have the hurricane passing close to or over Bermuda.

Bermuda Weather Service meteorologist Ken Smith said Bermuda should be prepared for "virtually a direct hit", although he added that there was no way to predict if the eye of the storm would pass over the island at the moment.