Hurricane Bill threatened to gatecrash the vacations of both President Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton as it barrelled yesterday towards Bermuda, bringing massive seas and flood warnings.
The first hurricane of the Atlantic season packed winds of 185 kilometres an hour as it took aim for the New England coast, where Mr Obama, his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia head on summer break from tomorrow.
"Large swells generated by this hurricane are affecting Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, The Bahamas and Bermuda and should begin affecting most of the US east coast and the Atlantic maritimes of Canada during the next day or two," warned the National Hurricane Centre.
"These swells will likely cause extremely dangerous surf and life-threatening rip currents."
Bermuda, where US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and husband Bill were on vacation, was put under a state of alert and officials took emergency measures as the rains and high winds hit.
The British overseas territory was expected to avoid a direct smash from Bill as the hurricane churns past on its way to Massachusetts in time for the Obamas' arrival.
"As of the latest report we think we'll see waves of seven-to-12 metres out in the ocean," said Massachusetts Coast Guard spokesman Bill Gasperetti.
Yacht owners battened down the hatches at Martha's Vineyard, a popular island of tranquility for the rich and famous where the first family was due to spend a week unwinding.
"Phones are ringing off the hook and hurricane is all people are talking about," said assistant harbour master Ned Kaiser. "We're hearing we'll have pretty big seas with the storm surge coming."
American oil giant Exxon Mobil said it was evacuating all 200 workers from a gas platform off the Canadian east coast ahead of Hurricane Bill's expected weekend arrival.
"Based on the current predictions of its severity and with the safety of our workforce as a priority Exxon Mobil has decided to evacuate all personnel from our Sable facility," spokeswoman Margot Bruce-O'Connell said.
At 1500 GMT yesterday, Bill's eye was 540 kilometres south-southwest of Bermuda, and about 755 miles southeast of the US coastline at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the NHC said.
It was moving north-northwest at 18 miles per hour, the hurricane centre said. The Category Three hurricane was projected to make landfall on the eastern seaboard of the United States at some time tomorrow.
The Saffir-Simpson scale rates a storm's severity on a scale of one to five, with a Category Three hurricane packing dangerous winds that can cause extensive damage to populated areas.
Bermuda issued its tropical storm alert and hurricane watch alert earlier Thursday in preparation for Hurricane Bill's arrival.
The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and ends on November 30.
Weather experts specialising in hurricane forecasting predicted above average activity over the next two weeks or so.
"This is due to a combination of factors including Hurricane Bill which is predicted to be a major hurricane for the next several days," said a statement from the Colorado State Department of Atmospheric Science.
Experts earlier this month reduced the number of projected hurricanes in the north Atlantic this season to four, two of them major hurricanes with winds above 111 miles per hour.
Hurricane Bill's progress follows one of the calmest starts to the hurricane season in a decade, which the Colorado researchers attributed to the development of an El Nino effect in the Pacific.