Weather forecasters have upgraded hurricane Gonzalo into a Category 4 storm on Wednesday as it continues to move toward Bermuda, packing sustained winds of 130 miles per hour or 215 kilometers per hour.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center, as quoted by Reuters, said the hurricane, which was located at about 625 miles or 1,005 kilometers south-southwest of Bermuda on Wednesday afternoon, is not threatening the mainlaid U.S. as it is expected to weaken over the next 48 hours.
Reuters, citing a post written by hurricane expect Jeff Masters in his blog, said the hurricane is expected to weaken by Thursday due to the drier air and cooler seas it encountered. However, it is still expected to reach Bermuda while it is between a Category 1 and 3 storm.
A Washington Post report said that Hurricane Gonzalo, the sixth hurricane of this year's Atlantic hurricane season, is now considered as the strongest Atlantic hurrice since Ofelia on October 2011.
It was earlier reported that hurricane Gonzalo already claimed the life of an elderly man in St. Maarten after his boat sank in a marina where over 30 vessels were damaged, Reuters said in the report citing The Daily Herald. Gonzalo has also uprooted trees, caused power outages, and damaged several boats in the Caribbean islands of Antigua, St Maarten, and Martinique
Meanwhile, tropical storm Ana which is on its way toward Hawaii is seen to intensify further into a hurricane on Wednesday, a separate Reuters report said.
The tropical storm, which is at about 680 miles or 1,100 kilometers southeast of Hawaii's Big Island on Wednesday morning, has sustained winds of up to 70 miles per hour or 113 kph but forecasters said its sustained winds would continue to increase to breach the 90 mph or 145 kph mark to level up the Category 1 storm, Reuters said quoting the National Weather Service.
Tropical storm Ana, the report said quoting meteorologist Matthew Foster of the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu, could make its landfall on the Big Island late Friday night or early Saturday morning is it continues with its track.
Residents in Hawaii are now warned and urged to stock supplies of food, medicine, and water and prepare for a possible evacuation.
Tropical storm Ana would be in a hurricane category if it reaches a maximum sustained winds of 74 mph or 119 kph. Forecasters are eyeing this possibility by Wednesday night. If this happens, Ana would be the first hurricane to hit Hawaii since Iniki which pummeled the island of Kauai, killed at least six people, and caused damage amounting to $2.4 billion in 1992
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