Hurricane Fiona has left a path of destruction throughout Puerto Rico, knocking out the US island territory’s energy whereas dumping torrential rain and wreaking catastrophic injury earlier than making landfall within the Dominican Republic.
Landslides, blocked roads, fallen timber and energy traces, in addition to a collapsed bridge within the city of Utuado within the central mountainous area, have been a part of the destruction already attributable to Fiona in Puerto Rico, Governor Pedro Pierluisi advised a night information convention.
The hurricane carried most sustained winds of 144km per hour (90 miles per hour) because it hit the Dominican Republic on Monday morning, the US Nationwide Hurricane Middle (NHC) mentioned on Twitter.
“Life-threatening flash and concrete flooding is probably going for japanese parts of the Dominican Republic,” the NHC mentioned in a morning advisory.
Earlier than Fiona’s arrival, Dominican President Luis Abinader suspended work and the island positioned 13 of its 32 provinces, situated to the north and east, on purple alert.
In Puerto Rico, the place residents have been left with out energy because the hurricane neared, the island’s electrical energy firm mentioned on its web site on Monday that it had “reenergized some circuits” however didn’t have numbers on how many individuals have been receiving electrical energy.
The NHC downgraded Fiona to a tropical storm in Puerto Rico however warned that harmful rain and devastating flash floods might proceed to hit the island.
Fiona will go down as a “catastrophic occasion as a result of impacts of flooding” in Puerto Rico’s central, japanese and southern areas, Pierluisi tweeted, including that 230-330mm (9-13 inches) of rain had fallen in simply 5 hours.
The hurricane additionally left about 196,000 individuals with out ingesting water on account of energy outages and flooded rivers, officers mentioned.