MIAMI – Epsilon rapidly gained major hurricane strength on Wednesday afternoon and is expected to skirt east of Bermuda in the coming day, the U.S. National Hurricane Center says.
The Category 3 storm is packing top sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and Bermuda remains under a tropical storm warning.
Epsilon gained 50 mph (80 kph) in wind speed in just 24 hours, officially qualifying as a rapidly intensifying storm.
Epsilon is expected to make its closest approach to the island on Thursday afternoon or evening, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
This year's hurricane season has had so many storms that the Hurricane Center has turned to the Greek alphabet for storm names after running out of official names.