Hurricane Florence strengthens on possible path to Bermuda

MIAMI — Hurricane Florence became the first major storm of the Atlantic season Wednesday as it moves on a path that could take it toward Bermuda. At 11 a.m. ET, the Category 3 hurricane’s maximum sustained winds were around 125 mph.

Hurricane Florence was centered about 1,370 miles east-southeast of Bermuda and was moving northwest at 13 mph.

“Some weakening is possible during the next few days, but Florence is expected to remain a strong hurricane through early next week,” forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in the late Wednesday morning advisory.

National Hurricane Center

In the U.S., Tropical Storm Gordon never became a hurricane but it was deadly all the same, killing a child by blowing a tree onto a mobile home as it made landfall. The storm later weakened into a depression on Wednesday but remained dangerous, dumping rain, spawning tornadoes and kicking up heavy surf in its wake.

The hurricane center said Gordon was weakening on a path into Arkansas after striking the coast at 70 mph, just shy of hurricane strength, near Pascagoula, Mississippi. The remnants will likely cause flash flooding across parts of seven states and as far north as Iowa in the coming days.