ASSOCIATED PRESS
People clear debris from a highway after a landslide through Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A highway is flooded by rains from Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico >> Hurricane Fiona roared over the Dominican Republic today, a day after cutting power in Puerto Rico and causing damage that the governor called “catastrophic. “Many other people were also left without water service.
Fiona’s hit was made more devastating as Puerto Rico has yet to do so because of Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 other people and destroyed the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island still have blue tarps as roofs. .
Fiona’s wind and water ripped off the pavement of the roads, ripped off roofs and sent torrents into the houses. The typhoon also destroyed a bridge and flooded an airport runway.
Authorities have not reported any deaths directly from Fiona, but Puerto Rican authorities said it’s too early to know the extent of the damage. The typhoon is still expected to unleash torrential rains on U. S. soil.
Authorities reported one death related to the blackout: a 70-year-old man burned alive as he tried to fill his fuel generator while it was running.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi declined to say how long it would take to completely repair the electricity, but said that for peak customers, “it’s a matter of days. “
The island’s National Weather Service workplace said flash flooding was occurring in the south-central parts of Puerto Rico and tweeted: “MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY!”
Up to 22 inches of rain fell in parts of Puerto Rico and forecasters said four to eight inches could fall more as the typhoon moves away, with even more options in some places.
Total rainfall of up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) was forecast for eastern Dominican Republic, where the government closed ports and beaches and told most people to stay home.
“It’s vital that other people perceive that it’s not over,” said Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist with the San Juan Weather Service.
He said the flooding had reached “historic levels” when the government evacuated or rescued many other people in Puerto Rico.
“What we’re seeing is catastrophic,” Pierluisi said.
Water service has been cut off to more than 837,000 consumers, two-thirds of the total on the island, due to murky water in filtration plants or a lack of electricity, he said.
Earlier today, the government in boats was navigating the flooded streets of the northern coast town of Catano, using a megaphone to alert others that the bombs had collapsed, urging them to evacuate as soon as possible.
Officials said at least 1,300 other people spent the night in shelters across the island.
Brown water rushed into streets, homes and a runway in southern Puerto Rico.
The formula also ripped asphalt off roads and toppled a bridge on the central mountain of the city of Utuado that police say was installed by the National Guard after Maria went through a category four storm.
Fiona also ripped off the roofs of the houses, adding that of Nelson Cirino on the north coast of the city of Loiza.
“I slept and watched as the corrugated iron flew away,” he said as he watched the rain wet his belongings and the wind whipped his colorful curtains into the air.
This morning, Fiona was centered about 10 miles southeast of Samana in the Dominican Republic, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 km/h), according to the U. S. National Hurricane Center. UU. Se shifts northwest at 8 mph.
Tropical typhoon-force winds extended 140 miles from the center.
The typhoon was expected to move into the Atlantic in the afternoon and pass near the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday. It could cross Bermuda in the form of a primary hurricane Thursday night or Friday, forecasters said.
Authorities announced that power had been repaired for 100,000 consumers on the island of 3. 2 million, but power distribution company Luma said it could take days to fully repair service.
U. S. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency as the eye of the typhoon approached the southwest corner of the island.
Health centers in Puerto Rico had turbines in operation and some of them failed. Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said he rushed to repair turbines at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, where several patients had to be evacuated.
Fiona once defeated the Eastern Caribbean, killing a man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floods washed away his house, he said.
The hit to Puerto Rico on the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which hit the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm.
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