Hurricane Fiona downgraded to Category 4 after devastating impact on Wednesday Puerto Ricothen whip Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos Islands. It was forecast to hit Bermuda later this week.
US National Hurricane Center he said As of Wednesday afternoon, Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph and the center was about 650 miles southwest of Bermuda, moving north at 8 mph.
It is likely to approach Bermuda late Thursday and then Atlantic Canada late Friday. The US State Department issued a statement advice On Tuesday night, US citizens will “reconsider travel” to Bermuda.
The storm has been blamed for directly causing the deaths of at least four people on the march across the Caribbean, where winds and torrential rains in Puerto Rico have left most people in the US territory without electricity or running water. Hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes after what authorities called “historic” flooding.
NOAA
Power company officials initially said it would take several days to fully restore power, but later backed off late Tuesday night. As of Wednesday afternoon, three days after Fiona hit the island, about 70% of customers were without power, according to government figures.
“Hurricane Fiona has had a significant impact on electricity infrastructure and generation facilities across the island. We want to make it clear that recovery and power supply efforts are ongoing and affected by severe flooding, impassable roads, downed trees, damaged equipment and downed lines. “Power transmission and distribution company Luma said.
Governor of Puerto Rico. “I hope that by the end of today, a large part of the population will have these services,” Pedro Pierluisi said.
Pierluisi he tweeted On Wednesday afternoon, the federal government approved a request for a major disaster declaration in response to Fiona. On Wednesday morning, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) he said the request was still under review. President Biden on Sunday approved a hurricane emergency declaration.
FEMA chief Deanne Criswell traveled to Puerto Rico on Tuesday as the agency announced it was sending hundreds of additional workers to boost local response efforts.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Health and Human Services has also declared a public health emergency on the island and sent several teams to the island.
The storm killed one person in the French offshore territory of Guadeloupe, another in Puerto Rico swept away by a swollen river, and two in the Dominican Republic: one killed by a fallen tree and another by a downed power pole.
Two other deaths were reported in Puerto Rico as a result of the power outage: a 70-year-old man burned to death after trying to fill a generator with gasoline while it was running, and a 78-year-old man police say inhaled the toxic substance. gases from its generator.
The hum of generators could be heard throughout the area as people became increasingly agitated. Some were still trying to recover from Hurricane Maria, which made landfall five years ago as a Category 4 storm and killed one person. 2,975 people are estimated.
Luis Noguera, who helped clean up the landslide in the central mountain town of Cayey, said Maria left him without electricity for a year. Officials themselves have not announced a full restoration of service until 11 months after Maria hit.
“We paid an electrician out of our own pocket to hook us up,” he recalled, adding that after Fiona he didn’t think the government would help out again.
Long lines formed at several gas stations in Puerto Rico, and some pulled off the main highway to collect water from the creek.
“We thought we had a bad experience with Maria, but it got worse,” said Gerardo Rodriguez, who lives in the south coast city of Salinas.
Parts of the island received more than 25 inches of rain and more on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, authorities said they had restored power to about 380,000 of the island’s 1.47 million customers. Piped water service was initially suspended for most of the island’s users due to power outages at filtration plants and murky water, but 55% had service by Wednesday morning.
On Wednesday, the National Weather Service in San Juan issued a heat warning for several cities as most people on the island of 3.2 million remain without power.
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US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he would require the federal government to pay 100% of disaster response costs, instead of the usual 75%, under the emergency declaration.
“We need to make sure that this time Puerto Rico has everything they need, as quickly as possible, for as long as they need it,” he said.
Many Americans have not heard from family members without power.
“I haven’t been able to talk to my mom and see how she’s doing,” Nancy Valentine, a resident of Palm Beach County, Florida, told CBS News.
At Boston’s Logan Airport, people arriving from Puerto Rico said they feared drowning in Fiona’s floodwaters.
Yolanda Rivera told CBS News, “We stayed in a room in a little corner that was safe, all night without lights or anything. The place was very dark.”
Officials in the Turks and Caicos Islands reported minimal damage and no deaths on Tuesday morning, despite the eye of the storm passing near Grand Turk, the capital island of the tiny British territory.
The government has imposed a flood curfew and urged people to avoid high-risk areas.
“Turks and Caicos has had a phenomenal experience over the past 24 hours,” said the deputy governor. Anya Williams. “It certainly came with its share of challenges.”
