Hurricane Fiona is now the first major hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane season, barreling toward the Turks and Caicos Islands after devastating Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Early Tuesday, Fiona was centered 20 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of Grand Turk Island. It had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving north-northwest at 10 mph (17 kph).
The National Guard has rescued more than 900 people as floodwaters continue to rush through towns in eastern and southern Puerto Rico with up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain forecast for some areas. Multiple landslides also were reported.
Officials confirm at least two people have died, including a Puerto Rican man who was swept away by a flooded river and a person in the Dominican Republican who was hit by a falling tree.
The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people and destroyed the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul says she is sending resources to help restore power and help with rescue efforts.
“We will have over 100 troopers from New York State Police Department on their way to Puerto Rico over this next week,” the governor said. “The island of Puerto Rico has had to endure the destruction of the hands of Mother Nature. It’s reminiscent of five years ago when we were all just shocked by the scale of devastation on the island. And the images are still very vivid.”
“The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic,” said Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said. “We are going through a difficult moment, but our people are strong and very generous.”
LUMA Energy said that just 100,000 out of 1.5 Million clients have power on the island, and helicopters are in the air surveying damage. Only 30% of households on the island have potable water after rivers grew and heavy rainfall impacted the system.
Pierluisi said that the goal is for “a large number of LUMA customers” to have power “in a matter of days,” which is in contrast to what LUMA said in a statement Sunday, that “full power restoration could take several days.”
The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people and destroyed the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island still have blue tarps for a roof.
Some areas of the island that typically do not see flooding are seeing unprecedented amounts of rainfall, and some area will end the storm with 35 inches of rain — 5 inches shy of the amount of Maria’s rainfall.
“It’s important people understand that this is not over,” said Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Juan who said flooding reached “historic levels.”
The most affected regions are in the south, southwestern and central mountain range, according to the governor, who noted that there will be areas on the northern coast impacted as well because of water flow.
Gov. Hochul announced the state was mobilizing to assist in relief and recovery efforts, and responding to a request by Pierluisi, the state is sending 100 Spanish speaking police officers and emergency responders to Puerto Rico and drones to the Dominican Republic.
Abc
