MIAMI, United States (AFP)— Bermuda was on high alert Friday as residents brace for Hurricane Ernesto, with heavy rain and flooding expected to wallop the island at the weekend, meteorologists and officials said.

The cyclone, which lashed Puerto Rico earlier this week leaving 600,000 customers without power, was churning in the Atlantic ocean and heading north towards Bermuda bearing sustained winds of 100 miles (160 kilometres) per hour, according to the US government’s National Hurricane Center.

“Ernesto is forecast to be a large hurricane near Bermuda on Saturday and maintain hurricane strength through the weekend,” the NHC said in its latest advisory.

The large storm, currently a Category 2 hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, is set to strengthen overnight.

It is expected to produce as much as 15 inches (38 centimetres) of rain in parts of the British territory as well as a dangerous storm surge, both of which “will likely result in considerable life-threatening flash flooding,” the NHC added.

Gale force winds were expected by late Friday, with the Bermuda government urging residents to prepare and warning on social media site X that the hurricane was forecast to be “directly over” the island by 11:00 am (1400 GMT) Saturday.

Bermudians were hauling boats out of the ocean and water, boarding up windows, filling bathtubs with water and stocking up on batteries and food supplies.

As the territory’s emergency officials met Thursday, Minister of National Security Michael Weeks urged residents to complete their hurricane preparation as soon as possible.

“Time is running out,” he said, according to the Royal Gazette newspaper.

Some key roads were closing Friday ahead of the storm, and bus and ferry services were being suspended, it added.