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Hurricane Fiona Live Updates: Storm Damage, Photos and News


Hurricane Fiona made landfall on the east coast of the Dominican Republic on Monday morning, a day after the storm battered the entire nearby island of Puerto Rico and caused what the governor there called damage. “disastrous”.

More than 1.3 million customers in Puerto Rico were without power Monday morning, according to poweroutage.us, monitor power outages. Puerto Rico’s electric utility, LUMA, said it had restored power to about 100,000 customers but warned that full restoration could take days.

Even as the storm moves west, heavy rain is expected from its outer bands in Puerto Rico through Monday afternoon and in the Dominican Republic through Monday night. The rain will be heavy enough to create what the National Weather Service calls “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” along with landslides and landslides across Puerto Rico on Monday. It also warns of life-threatening flash floods in metropolitan areas of the Dominican Republic.

Fiona is expected to move through the eastern part of the Dominican Republic through Monday and towards the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday. It is expected to grow stronger over the next few days and become a major hurricane – that is, Category 3 or higher – on Wednesday, According to the National Hurricane Center.

Pedro Pierluisi, the governor of Puerto Rico, said at a news conference Sunday afternoon that authorities were assessing the damage and working to avert a growing disaster. He said officials are rescuing people in isolated areas and deploying the National Guard and other personnel to evacuate low-lying areas where rivers are expected to flood. overwhelm.

“Hurricane Fiona has covered Puerto Rico,” Pierluisi said in Spanish, adding that the storm was one of the most significant since Hurricane Maria devastated it in 2017. direct impact has covered all of the Island.”

The storm made landfall in the Dominican Republic, meaning its eye crossed the coastline, at 3:30 a.m. Eastern on Monday near Boca de Yuma. At the time, its maximum sustained winds were estimated at 90 miles per hour. Late Monday morning, the storm was approaching the north coast of the country, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.

Dominica’s President, Luis Abinader, said at a news conference Sunday evening that the power company and government agencies had staff “ready” to respond to emergencies.

Storm warnings and warnings are in effect throughout the region. A hurricane warning is in effect for Turks and Caicos and the east coast of the Dominican Republic, from Cabo Cancedo to Cabo Frances Viejo. The north coast, from Cabo Frances Viejo west to Puerto Plata, is in the eye of the storm.

When asked what happened to the island’s power grid, Jaclyn Rothenberg, a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on Sunday that the agency’s priority is to respond to immediate needs and The diagnosis of what happened will have to come later.

As a tropical storm, Fiona brought flooding to Guadeloupe, an archipelago southeast of Puerto Rico, and at least one person died from the storm in the capital. a government official said on Saturday.

According to forecasters, the storm could bring 4 to 6 inches of rain to the British Virgin Islands and the US and up to 10 inches to St. Croix.

If the storm continues to move north-northwest, it could affect the Bahamas, the Hurricane Center said.

Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June to November got off to a relatively quiet start, with only three named storms before September. There were no named storms in the Atlantic in August for the first time since 1997. But hurricane activity began in early September, with Danielle and Earlthe two eventually became hurricanes, forming within a day of each other.

Credit…Lara Balais / Agence France-Presse – Getty Images

The link between hurricanes and climate change is getting clearer every year. The data show that The storm has become stronger all over the world during the past four decades. A warming planet can expect stronger storms over time and a higher incidence of the strongest storms – although the total number of hurricanes could be reduced, because factors such as the strength Stronger wind shear can prevent weaker storms from forming.

Hurricanes also become wetter because there is more water vapor in the warmer atmosphere; storm like Hurricane Harvey in 2017 Scientists have suggested that much more rainfall would have been generated than if there were no human impact on the climate. In addition, rising sea levels also contribute to higher tides – the most destructive factor of tropical cyclones.

Johnny Diaz, Amanda Holpuch, Eduardo Medina, Christopher Mele, McKenna Oxenden, Vimal Patel, Victor Manuel Ramos, April Rubin, Chris Stanford, Derrick Bryson Taylor and Daniel Victor contribution report.





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