Ernesto retains strength as a hurricane over the open Atlantic

Two people who drowned off South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island where rip current warnings related to Hurricane Ernesto were posted have been identified as Ohio men. A coroner said Monday that autopsies will help determine whether 66-year-old Ralph Jamieson, of South Euclid, and 73-year-old Leonard Schenz, of Loveland, died because of Ernesto. The storm has regained hurricane status and picked up strength as it heads farther out into the Atlantic Ocean. Swells and dangerous surf and rip currents are affecting the U.S. East Coast and Canada’s Atlantic coast. Ernesto is expected to weaken and become a post-tropical cyclone Tuesday.