Hurricane Gonzalo regains strength on way to Bermuda

[October 16, 2014]  (Reuters) - Hurricane Gonzalo regained strength on Thursday, again reaching Category 4, as it swirled towards Bermuda, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Gonzalo was about 540 miles (865 km) south-southwest of Bermuda early on Thursday, the center said, with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour (220 kph).

The hurricane was expected to send large swells and potentially dangerous surf conditions to the U.S. east coast on Thursday before bringing hurricane-force winds to Bermuda on Friday, forecasters said.

Gonzalo briefly reached Category 4 status on Wednesday but dropped back to a Category 3 by the evening as it continued to move away from the northern Caribbean, forecasters said. It is expected to see slow weakening on Thursday night, with steadier weakening starting by late Friday, the center said.

Gonzalo is the sixth hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic season, which runs through the end of November. Forecasters in August predicted lower-than-usual activity for the season, with seven to 12 named storms and no more than two reaching major hurricane status.

A major hurricane is considered to be Category 3 or above with winds hitting at least 111 mph (178 kph).

Gonzalo uprooted trees, downed power lines and damaged scores of boats in the Caribbean islands of Antigua, St Maarten, and Martinique, local authorities and media reports said.

An 87-year-old sailor in St Maarten died after his boat sank in a marina where 37 vessels were damaged, the Daily Herald reported.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Arpan Varghese in Bangalore; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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