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Hurricane Humberto remained an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm early Sunday, while a separate system, Tropical Depression Nine, is drenching Cuba and the Bahamas and is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane within days.
The National Hurricane Center reported at 11 a.m. Sunday that Humberto was about 535 miles south of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of at least 150 mph. The storm is expected to remain a powerful major hurricane, passing west of Bermuda by Tuesday evening. Humberto evolved into a Category 5 Saturday night.
Even far from land, Humberto is already generating dangerous swells. The hurricane is expected to send life-threatening surf and rip currents toward Bermuda, the northern Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the U.S. East Coast beginning Monday.
Tropical Depression Nine was moving slowly north near 7 mph Sunday morning, centered about 95 miles west of central Banahams. The system, with 35 mph maximum sustained winds, is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm later Sunday and could become a hurricane by late Monday or Tuesday.
The tropical storm category requires minimum sustained winds of 39 mph. At that point, the storm would get a name, likely Tropical Storm Imelda.
Heavy rainfall was expected from Florida to the eastern Carolinas, and across eastern Cuba and the northwest Bahamas through Tuesday, with 6 to 12 inches of precipitation possible, it said.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an emergency declaration, state emergency officials said swift-water rescue crews have been activated, and the South Carolina National Guard said 150 troops were assigned to help with the state’s storm response.
“The time to prepare is now,” McMaster said at a news conference Saturday.
National Hurricane Center forecast cones show Tropical Depression Nine keeping some distance from the East Coast as it heads north. But the possibility of landfall in South Carolina is “still a concern,” John Quagliariello, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said at a news conference.
The storm could also stall off the coast, he said, giving it time to put more water on the ground and increasing flood danger.
On Sunday, a Nine-related tropical storm watch — which warns of serious winds, waves and surges, but includes uncertain timing — was in effect for Florida’s Atlantic Coast from roughly Palm Beach to Flagler Beach.
Tropical Depression Nine also triggered a tropical storm warning, meaning heavy rain and potent 39 to 73 mph winds are all but assured for the central Bahamas, including Cat Island, the Exumas, Long Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador, as well as for sections of the northwestern Bahamas, including Eleuthera, New Providence, the Abacos, Berry Islands, Andros island and Grand Bahama Island, the hurricane center said.
The storm was also expected to produce a 1 to 3 foot storm surge, as well as life-threatening waves in parts of the northwestern Bahamas throughout the weekend, the center said. About 1 to 2 feet of storm surge is also possible along the East Coast from South Carolina’s South Santee River to Volusia County, Florida.
“Swells generated by this system and Hurricane Humberto will affect portions of the Bahamas this weekend, and spread to portions of the southeast U.S. coast early this week,” the hurricane center said. “These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
The Bahamas Disaster Risk Management Authority in a statement Saturday urged residents of parts of the northern Bahamas to evacuate ahead of the storm.
U.S. forecasters said in an offshore waters forecast on Saturday that Tropical Depression Nine would likely be a hurricane, defined by 74 to 95 mph winds, by Tuesday morning.
The back-to-back action, not to mention Hurricane Gabrielle, which spun over the central subtropical Atlantic earlier in the week, are enlivening an otherwise sleepy 2025 Atlantic hurricane season.
Until Wednesday, the season produced a below-average number of major storms, defined as those of Category 3 or greater, despite forecasts for a season that would be more active than the average one, according to Colorado State University meteorologist and hurricane expert Philip Klotzbach.
In a Friday post on X noting Humberto’s graduation to major status, Klotzbach said, “For the first time since 1935, the Atlantic’s first 3 hurricanes have all been major: Erin, Gabrielle, Humberto.”
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Mirna Alsharif is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
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