Bermuda cleans up after Fabian

[Whitebeard]

Four people presumed dead




HURRICANE FABIAN

At 5 a.m. EDT Sunday
Latitude: 39.7 north
Longitude: 54.7 west
Position: 500 miles (800 kilometers) south of Cape Race, Newfoundland
Top sustained winds: Near 100 mph (160 kph)
Map: Projected path

TROPICAL STORM ISABEL

At 5 a.m. EDT Sunday
Latitude: 13.7 north
Longitude: 37.1 west
Position: 830 miles (1840 kilometers) west of the Cape Verde Islands
Top sustained winds: Near 65 mph (100 kph)
Map: Projected path

TROPICAL DEPRESSION HENRI

At 5 a.m. EDT Sunday
Latitude: 30.8 north
Longitude: 79.1 west
Position: 135 miles (217 kilometers) south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina
Top sustained winds: Near 35 mph (55 kph)
Map: Projected path


HAMILTON, Bermuda (CNN) -- As Bermuda counted the cost of damage brought by powerful Hurricane Fabian, weather forecasters were watching closely a strengthening tropical storm in the mid-Atlantic that could soon become the season's fourth hurricane.

Tropical Storm Isabel formed early Saturday in the mid-Atlantic, and by 5 a.m. EDT Sunday, the storm's winds had increased to near 65 mph (100 kph) as it churned to the west -- just south of the path followed across the Atlantic by Fabian -- at 10 mph (17 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The center said the storm was about 830 miles (1,340 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands and that it was growing better organized and expected to strengthen over the next 24 hours.

Four people, including two police officers, are missing and presumed dead in the aftermath of Fabian, which pounded Bermuda on Friday with 120 mph (193 kph) winds for more than five hours, before moving over the island and back into the Atlantic.

Bermuda Premier Alex Scott said all four of the missing were from a single incident on a bridge, now partially collapsed, leading to Bermuda's airport.

He said two police officers and a civilian tried to rescue two civilians, trapped in separate cars on the bridge. One of the civilians reached safety, he said, but the police car and the other civilian car were swept into the inlet by the hurricane's crashing waves.

The cars were found Saturday morning, the premier said, but the four remain unaccounted for.

Scott said a hurricane had not killed anyone in Bermuda since a Category 3 storm scored a direct hit in 1926. That unnamed storm was the last major storm to hit the islands.

Recovery
CNN correspondent Gary Tuchman and his crew, watching the storm from Southhampton Parish on Bermuda's southwest corner, drove the streets shortly after the worst of the storm and said there were hundreds of fallen trees and downed power lines.

Tuchman said the hotel where he is staying was shaking and that a nearby beachside restaurant had been swallowed by the ocean. The winds also snapped power lines and trees, leaving them littered in the streets. In addition, roofs of buildings have been ripped off.

Scott said that 70 percent of Bermuda power customers were without electricity Saturday, but added that "Bermuda is well on the road to recovery and restoration" and "is open for business locally, and internationally in the very near future."

He said officials hoped to have the bridge to the airport temporarily repaired and the airport open later in the day.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Fabian's top wind speed had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane, but remained powerful, with maximum sustained winds reaching 110 mph (175 kph) the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The eye of the storm was centered about 715 miles (1115 kilometers) southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland, rushing northeast at 23 mph, (37 kph). The storm is expected to continue its northeast path Saturday.

The effects of Fabian will also be felt on parts of the East Coast of the United States as large swells pound the shoreline.

Henri likely to cause flooding
Meanwhile, forecasters warn that the remnants of Tropical Storm Henri could lead to serious flooding in Florida's Gulf Coast, which is already saturated.

The storm was downgraded Saturday to a tropical depression but could return to tropical storm strength in the next 24 hours. As of 5 a.m. EDT Sunday, the center of the storm was about 135 miles (217 kilometers) south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph (55 kph).