© REUTERS/NASA/Alexander GerstHurricane Gonzalo is seen over the Atlantic Ocean in this NASA image taken by astronaut Alexander Gerst from the International Space Station October 17, 2014.
Gonzalo was swirling about 100 miles (165 km) south-southwest of the British island chain and had weakened slightly, with sustained winds dropping to 125 miles per hour (205 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The eye of the Category 3 storm was forecast to pass within 30 miles of Bermuda on Friday evening, with hurricane force winds extending up to 60 miles (95 km) from the center.
By mid-afternoon streets were empty as the high winds reaching tropical storm force of 40 mph (64 kph) bent back palm trees on Harrington Sound in the middle of the islands, prompting the government to close a major causeway bridge linking the main island to the east end.
Gonzalo is expected to continue weakening throughout Friday and into the weekend, the Miami-based hurricane center said, but "is expected to be a dangerous hurricane when it moves near or over Bermuda," a low-lying archipelago with a total area of only 21 square miles (54 sq km).
"Gonzalo is not weakening fast enough to spare Bermuda from a devastating strike by a major hurricane," said Jeff Masters, a hurricane expert with private forecaster Weather Underground.
Bermuda, a tourist destination and affluent insurance industry hub about 640 miles (1030 km) off the U.S. east coast, is still recovering from Tropical Storm Fay, which swept over the islands early on Sunday with near hurricane-force winds of 70 mph (110 kph).
The governor of Bermuda, George Ferguson, advised the territory's 65,000 residents on Friday to stay off the roads and listen to emergency bulletins.
"I wish everyone all the best, for the next 24 hours. Good luck, and look after each other," he said in an emergency broadcast.
A British Royal Navy warship, HMS Argyll, was heading for Bermuda to help with post-Gonzalo relief efforts, the government said.
Linda Cook, 40, from Warwick parish, described watching Fay blow the roofs off three houses on Sunday and said she did not know what to expect from Gonzalo. "It's my first hurricane and I'm terrified," she said.
The "scariest thing," she said, was the amount of debris left after Fay.
"We have trees down from the first storm. We've been trying to get rid of those and trying to get wood to board up," she said.
Gonzalo is the Atlantic's first Category 4 hurricane since 2011.
Hurricanes are categorized from 1 to 5 by sustained wind speeds according to the Saffir-Simpson Scale. For example, Category 1 storms have sustained winds between 74 and 95 miles per hour. At the opposite end of the scale Category 5 storms have sustained winds of 157 miles per hour or higher.
See National Weather Service for more on Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
"The good thing is that of all the places in the Atlantic hurricane alley Bermuda is the best equipped to withstand a strike by a major hurricane. They have very strict building codes," said Masters.
Hurricane Fabian, which pummeled the island in 2003 and caused $300 million in damage, was a Category 3 storm, he said.
The hurricane center said it expected "significant coastal flooding," noting that Fabian produced an estimated 10 feet (3 meters) of storm surge when it moved over Bermuda.
The hurricane forced NASA to delay by at least three days its next cargo run to the International Space Station, which flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth because key tracking equipment is on Bermuda.
Gonzalo has already wrought destruction in the Caribbean, killing an elderly sailor and damaging some three dozen vessels in St. Maarten, the Dutch portion of Saint Martin island, the Daily Herald reported.
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