Hurricane Bill Brings Coastal Flooding to Dominican Republic, Bermuda

Hurricane Bill has weakened to a Category Three hurricane and become more disorganized, though the possibility still exists that the storm will strengthen again. Bill has caused coastal flooding in the Dominican Republic and is likely to cause significant coastal flooding in Bermuda on its northward journey.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reports that Hurricane Bill's maximum sustained winds have dropped to near 115 mph. As of 8:00 a.m., Bill was located about 385 miles south of Bermuda and 820 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The core of the storm is predicted to pass between Bermuda and the U.S. coast on Saturday.

The storm is expected to cause significant coastal flooding along portions of the Bermuda coast over the next day or two, due to large and dangerous breaking waves generated by the storm, an NHC source says. The Island is predicted to get two to four inches of rain, with six inches possible in places.

Owing to favorable environmental conditions, Hurricane bill may re-intensify slightly, crossing the threshold to Category Four later today, according to RMS (Newark, Calif.). Most models suggest that Bill will curve towards the northeast passing over the Northern Atlantic, encountering cooler waters and a south-westerly shear, which will create a more rapid rate of weakening as it approaches Nova Scotia as a Category One hurricane on Monday, an RMS release says.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio