More than half of Puerto Rico without power as Hurricane Ernesto strengthens

Hurricane Ernesto hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday, knocking out power for nearly half of all homes and businesses on the Caribbean island as it threatened to strengthen into a major hurricane en route to Bermuda.

More than 725,000 homes and businesses in the US territory were without electricity from out of a total of around 1.5 million users, according to LUMA Energy, the island's main energy supplier. By early Thursday, the storm was over open water about 675 miles south-southwest of Bermuda, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph and moving northwest at 16 mph.