Bermuda on alert as tropical storm approaches

Tropical Storm Bertha threatened to lash Bermuda with rain and high winds in the next 24 hours as it neared the British territory.

Tropical Storm Bertha could lash Bermuda with rain and high winds in the next 24 hours.

Businesses said they planned to send workers home by noon today, local time, as a preventive measure, while residents began taping windows and securing boats.

"Bermudians are pretty used to this," said resident Ruth O'Kelly-Lynch, 25.

"We've been through this several times, so everyone's relaxed but prepared."

Slow-moving, meandering Bertha was drifting north west about 3mph early today, and the US National Hurricane Centre predicted it would pick up speed as it moved north today and tomorrow.

The storm's centre is expected to pass to the east of Bermuda in the next 24 to 48 hours, generating large swells and high surf. Bertha's outer bands could dump 2-4 inches of rain, the centre said.

JetBlue cancelled Monday flights from Bermuda to Boston and New York, while American Airlines passengers scheduled to travel to Miami and New York that day were flown out yesterday. British Airways said it would decide today whether to cancel an evening flight to London.

Over the weekend, most tourists avoided the storm-whipped surf and rip currents along Bermuda's southern coast. Authorities posted signs announcing beach closures.

Early today, the storm had maximum sustained winds of near 65mph with higher gusts, and was centred about 160 miles south east of Bermuda. Tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 140 miles from the centre.

Pregnant Mikaela Ian Pearman, 22, who lives on the island's eastern end, worried that the causeway that linked her to the main island would close, preventing her from reaching the capital if she gave birth on her due date next Saturday.

"It scares me because of the fact that 'I don't do pain'," she said.

The storm apparently played a role in the deaths of three swimmers along the New Jersey coast, where the US National Weather Service said Bertha created tricky waves and currents.

Authorities said one man drowned and another was missing and feared dead following a Saturday evening swim off the Wildwood beach. A third man died the same day after being plucked from a rip current in Atlantic City, though doctors said he died of natural causes rather than drowning.

Bertha became the Atlantic season's first hurricane on July 7.