CORNWALL, Ontario – A Cornwall woman is bracing for the worst as a powerful hurricane takes aim at the Bermuda community she now calls home.
For the last two years Michelle Jarvo has been working as a server at a resort in the small Caribbean territory that now lies in the path of Hurricane Gonzalo – a powerful Category 4 storm that is packing powerful winds and what could be a devastating storm surge.
“It’s pretty scary, for sure,” said Jarvo in a telephone interview late Thursday night.
The storm is expected to pass within 46 km of Bermuda Friday night as a diminished Category 3 storm, close enough to be considered a direct hit, the Bermuda Weather Service said.
Jarvo is staying with friends in Boss Cove, on the north side of Bermuda, to avoid the powerful winds that will batter the south shore of the island where her permanent home is, in a residence where other employees of her resort stay.
“You do everything you can – all your preparations,” she said, adding windows have been boarded up, the tub is filled with water for drinking and other precautions have been taken because the conditions in Bermuda after Gonzalo passes could be devastating. “We could be without power for days and you don’t know when you’ll speak to family again.”
Jarvo and the balance of Bermuda are still cleaning up from Tropical Storm Fay which rolled through the region on the weekend.
“This is even more elevated…it’s a big deal,” she said. “We went a day without power…and they were still cleaning it up. There were trees down all over the road.”
Jarvo and others have been told to prepare for an extended stay in their homes, something on the order of 30 hours.
The CBC reported Thursday night that the Canadian Hurricane Centre believes Gonzalo is expected to bring heavy rains to southeastern Newfoundland this weekend as a strong post-tropical storm, while Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast could see ocean swells of two to three metres.
The CBC said Gonzalo was still a Category 4 storm Thursday night with top sustained winds of 230 km/h. It was centred about 615 kilometres south-southwest of Bermuda and was moving north at 15 km/h, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The storm has not soured Jarvo on her decision to make the move to the Caribbean.
“People have just been overwhelmingly supportive,” she said. “I’ve found my little piece of paradise.”
