Hurricane Igor headed across the Atlantic today with 175-kph winds and heavy rains that threatened to batter Bermuda starting tomorrow.
Igor, located about 825 km south-southeast of Bermuda at 10am Irish time, was just short of becoming a Category 3 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.
"Igor will be a large and dangerous hurricane as it approaches Bermuda on Sunday," the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said.
Bermuda residents stocked up on supplies and secured their homes. The rocky island, a tiny British overseas territory that is a hub for the global insurance industry, is one of the world's most isolated yet densely populated islands.
The Bermuda government warned residents to prepare for a similar impact from Igor as the island experienced from the 2003 Hurricane Fabian, which killed four people and caused millions of dollars of damage.
The Bermuda Weather Service has said the island could see 37 hours of powerful winds starting Sunday as Igor passes as close as 28 km to the east.
Hurricane expert Joe Bastardi with private US forecaster AccuWeather said Bermuda should be prepared for a "several-day siege of damaging winds and waves."
In Mexico, the remnants of Hurricane Karl, now a tropical depression, continued to dissipate over the mountains of the state of Veracruz after killing two people in a mudslide Friday.