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After Ophelia, attention turns to TS Philippe

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Terry Parson crouches low to avoid the roof of Crystal Caves on Saturday, heightened tides from the storm surge of Hurricane Ophelia made for cramped quarters in the popular tourist attraction.

Bermuda had a lucky escape making it through Hurricane Ophelia unscathed, but there’s another tropical storm hot on her heels.The Bermuda Weather Service is warning residents not to become complacent as they are now keeping a close eye on the slow-moving Tropical Storm Philippe. Philippe remains a potential threat to Bermuda and is expected to bring us moderate to strong winds as it passes by later this week.Residents should expect a cold front to “stall in the area” until Tuesday then it is predicted that Philippe will turn to the northeast by Wednesday morning.Meteorologist Michelle Pitcher of the Bermuda Weather Service said this means that providing Philippe’s path does not change, the storm “will be directly impacting Bermuda”.She said: “The cold front is expected to dissipate on Wednesday and be replaced by a ridge of high pressure pushing in from the west.“The effects of the ridge pushing in from the west and the proximity of Philippe to our east will create enough of a pressure gradient in our area to give us moderate to strong winds by Thursday”.The Bermuda Weather Service will continue to monitor the approach of Phillipe adding: “We will keep everyone advised of any changes in path, intensity and local effects.”Philippe is heading our way after we were “very lucky” with the passing of Hurricane Ophelia at the weekend.Residents were bracing themselves for a hurricane-strength storm with several flights into Bermuda being cancelled, including Saturday’s American Airlines flights from Miami and New York and Delta’s two Atlanta flights.The Department of Tourism also called off its Bermuda Nights event and the Department of Parks put up its red high surf signs as huge waves battered the South Shore.The closest point of approach for the Category Three hurricane was just less than 120 nautical miles to the east just after 7pm on Saturday, but there was no reported damage on the Island.

High waves caused by the passing of Hurricane Ophelia encroach on a house near John Smith?s Bay on Saturday.