Hurricane Fiona hits Turks and Caicos after devastating Puerto Rico and leaving more than a million people without running water in the Dominican Republic

CNN
–

Hurricane Fiona was threatening more deadly flooding as it swept through the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday, having already Cut off electricity and water services for most of Puerto Rico’s 3.1 million residents More than a million people were left without running water in the Dominican Republic.

Fiona Class 3 A storm with sustained winds of 115 mph was hitting the Turks and Caicos Islands while centered about 40 miles off Grand Turk Island at about 2 p.m. ET. Heavy rain can cause life-threatening flooding during the afternoon in parts of the UK with a population of about 38,000 people, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center He said.

The Dominican Republic is still grappling with the devastating path of Fiona — where the storm’s outer bands can still cause flooding after it traversed the Caribbean nation on Monday — and Puerto Rico, which Fiona crossed the day before, causing nearly power outages and leaving damage not seen since. Hurricane Maria It made landfall five years ago on Tuesday, officials said.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Alejandro Granadillo/AFP

Water flooded streets on Salinas Beach after Hurricane Fiona moved through Salinas, Puerto Rico, on Monday, Sept. 19.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Ricardo Arduingo/Reuters

Members of the Puerto Rican National Guard rescue a woman stuck at her home in Salinas on Monday.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Ricardo Arduingo/Reuters

A Puerto Rican National Guard member searches for people in Salinas on Monday.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Stephanie Rojas/AFP

Residents affected by Hurricane Fiona rest at a storm shelter Monday in Salinas.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Ricardo Arduingo/Reuters

Children swim in a flooded street in Salinas on Monday.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Jose Rodriguez/AFP/Getty Images

A woman stands outside her flooded home in Salinas on Monday.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

– / AFP / AFP via Getty Images

A person cooks in the dark on Monday after losing power in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Alejandro Granadillo/AFP

A woman clears rubble from her flooded property in Salinas on Monday.

See also  BBC star John Hunt breaks silence after wife, daughters killed by crossbow

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Alejandro Granadillo/AFP

Nelson Sereno looks at his bedroom after Hurricane Fiona’s winds tore off the roof of his home in Luisa, Puerto Rico, on Sunday, Sept. 18.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Ricardo Arduingo/Reuters

People clear a path from a fallen tree in Yaoco, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

NOAA / AP

This satellite image shows Hurricane Fiona in the Caribbean on Sunday.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Alejandro Granadillo/AFP

Nelson Sereno secures the windows of his home as Hurricane Fiona’s winds blow in Louisa on Sunday.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Ricardo Rojas/Reuters

State Social Plan workers prepare food rations in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Sunday.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Alejandro Granadillo/AFP

Getsabel Osorio stands at her home in Luisa on Saturday, September 17th. Hurricane Maria destroyed it five years ago.

Pictures and colon Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean

Ricardo Arduingo/Reuters

Boats sit secured by mangroves as Fiona approaches Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, on Saturday.

At least four people have died due to the severe weather, including one in the French province of Guadeloupe, who was criticized by Fiona late last week; two in Puerto Rico; and one in the Dominican Republic, according to officials.

In Puerto Rico, parts of it will see rainfall totals More than 30 inchesFiona forced the rivers to flood and the rising waters gathered in parts of the territory, inundating homes, streets and fields. Flowing water wiped out a bridge, and carried its structure downstream, one video offers. CNN staff said mudslides blocked some roads from coastal areas inland.

Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said on Tuesday that the damage is catastrophic in the territory’s center and its southern and southeastern regions.

The governor said a large portion of the population should have electricity by late Wednesday, but the greater damage in the southern part of the island means it will take longer to restore there.

More than 1.17 million of the 1.47 million utility customers were still without power as of early Tuesday, according to estimates from PowerOutage.uswhich indicates updated information on limited restoration efforts.

In Puerto Rico, a 58-year-old man was swept away by an overgrown river behind his home in Comerio and another man in his 30s died in a fire accident that occurred while trying to put gasoline into his generator while it was spinning. Ali, officials said.

Fiona condense into a Class 3 A storm as it moved off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic early Tuesday.

This is the first major hurricane – Category 3 or higher – of the year Atlantic hurricane season.

Heavy rain around central Fiona will threaten the Turks and Caicos Islands with ‘continued life-threatening flooding’ through Tuesday afternoon, hurricane center He said.

Those islands could see 4 to 8 inches of rain Tuesday above what they received earlier, as well storm surges – Pushing ocean waters into land – 5 to 8 feet, according to the Hurricane Center.

Hurricane conditions can be seen in Turks and Caicos through Tuesday afternoon, and tropical storm conditions — winds of at least 39 mph — are expected to spread over the southeastern Bahamas Tuesday morning.

A boost is expected as Fiona switches from Turks and Caicos. It may be a Category 4 storm — with sustained winds of 130 to 156 mph — late Wednesday over the Atlantic. It is expected to pass near or west of Bermuda late Thursday or early Friday, and could remain in Category 4 when it does, according to forecasters. Say.

Over the weekend, Fiona could make landfall in eastern Canada as a hurricane. It’s too early to know exactly where or how strong it is.

Tuesday marks five years since Hurricane Maria disastrous In Puerto Rico and some of those who experienced the 2017 crisis say the devastation of floods in Fiona could be even more severe.

Juan Miguel Gonzalez, a Puerto Rican business owner, told CNN that his neighborhood had not yet finished recovering from Maria when she hit Fiona. But this time, he says, the floods caused more damage to their homes.

“A lot of people – more than (through) Maria – have lost their homes now … they have lost everything in their homes to the floods,” Gonzalez told CNN on Monday. “Maria’s wind was gale. But this, with all the rain, ruined everything in the house.”

Officials said water service was also disrupted for most people, because river flooding affected filtration operations and must subside before safe treatment can resume. The province’s Canal and Sewerage Authority said about 60% of customers on the island had no running water on Tuesday morning.

Pierluisi said more than 1,200 people were staying in about 70 shelters on the island on Tuesday. Major General Jose Reyes, an assistant general in the Puerto Rican National Guard, said emergency crews were battling relentless rain to save nearly 1,000 lives as of midday Monday.

On Tuesday, the governor said school buildings will be checked to make sure it is safe for students to return to class in the coming days.

In addition to hundreds of Puerto Rican National Guard personnel helping with rescue and recovery efforts, the White House said Monday that President Joe Biden told Pierluisi during a phone call that he Federal support will increase in the coming days.

“With damage assessments in place, the president said the number of support personnel will increase significantly,” the White House said.

New York Governor Cathy Hochhol also announced that the state will send 100 state troops to assist relief efforts in Puerto Rico. She also said that teams from the New York Energy Authority are available to help restore energy.

In the Dominican Republic, where Up to 20 inches of rain Juan Manuel Mendes, the country’s director of emergency management operations, said emergency workers, who had fallen into places, brought nearly 800 people to safety. He said at least 519 people took refuge in the country’s 29 shelters on Monday.

As of Monday afternoon, at least 1018,564 customers across the Dominican Republic had no access to running water as 59 aqueducts were out of service and many others were only partially operating, according to Jose Luis Germain Mejia. National Emergency Management Officer.

Emergency management officials said some in the Dominican Republic were also out of power on Monday with 10 circuits out. It is unclear how many people were affected by the outage.