HAMILTON, Bermuda -- The island of Bermuda was preparing on Sunday for an encounter with Hurricane Joaquin.
People on the British island territory boarded up windows and stocked up on supplies as the storm moved toward the island as a Category 3 hurricane. Ferries and bus service were suspended, shelters were expected to open and emergency service agencies were on alert.
The Bermuda Weather Service reported that the island should start to feel tropical storm-force winds later Sunday. The centre of Joaquin is expected to pass about 60 miles (97 kilometres) from the island on Monday.
Joaquin lashed the lightly populated southeastern Bahamas for two days, damaging hundreds of homes and causing severe flooding on several small islands in the archipelago. The government said it was still working to calculate the extent of the damage to infrastructure and private property. An elderly man died on Long Island during the hurricane but it has not yet been determined if the storm caused his death, said Capt. Stephen Russell, the director of the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency.
The storm was 210 miles (340 kilometres) southwest of Bermuda on Sunday and has maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph). It is moving northeast at 21 mph (33 kph).
