Hurricane Fiona - news: Storm landfall in Dominican Republic as 1,000 stranded and power out in Puerto Rico
Officials say it could take several days for full power resoration - follow for the latest updates
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Your support makes all the difference.More than a million residents of Puerto Rico are without power as Hurricane Fiona departed the US island territory and continued on a path to the Dominican Republic.
Wind speeds of 85mph and “historic” rains were felt as the tropical storm made landfall on Puerto Rico’s eastern shores on Sunday, where many rivers are now heavily flooded and at least one road bridge was swept away.
As of Monday morning, more than 1.3 million homes were still without power as conditions remained too dangerous for repairs across large swaths of the island. Power company LUMA warned that it could take several days for full power resoration.
The storm made landfall early Monday in the Dominican Republic and is on track to brush past the southeast Bahamas, as well as Turks and Caicos into Tuesday.
Overnight, US President Joe Biden issued an emergency disaster declaration to speed-up the relief process for the island, which was days away from marking the fifth anniversary of another powerful hurricane that caused thousands of deaths and the collapse of vital energy infrastructure in 2017.
ICYMI: Video shows bridge ripped away by flood waters
This is the moment that a metal bridge erected in the wake of 2017's devastating Hurricane Maria was swept away by Fiona in a matter of minutes.
Videos shared by reporters, bystanders, and local politicians showed the bridge on Puerto Rico Highway 123 in the town of Utuado being torn out of its moorings and washed downriver by surging flood waters.
Fiona makes landfall in Puerto Rico
Good afternoon. Hurricane Fiona has made landfall in Puerto Rico, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
“National Weather Service Doppler radar observations indicate that the center of Hurricane Fiona has made landfall along the extreme southwestern coast of Puerto Rico near Punta Tocon at 3:20pm [local time],” said the NHC on Sunday afternoon. “Maximum sustained winds at landfall were estimated to be 85 mph.”
Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic in the crosshairs
Here’s the NHC’s latest map of the estimated path of Hurricane Fiona as of Sunday afternoon.
‘No one should be outside right now'
Governor Pedro Pierluisi is not mincing words about the threat to Puerto Rico. In a news conference earlier today, before the storm made landfall, he warned that it “will cover our entire island” and said “this is impacting us now”.
On his official Facebook page, he added: “Everyone should be in a safe place right now. No one should be outside.”
He said school classes and all work in government agencies will be suspended tomorrow, except for first responders and workers who “provide essential services”. Numerous roads are also closed.
‘Move immediately to higher ground'
The US National Weather Service has issued flood warnings numerous areas of Puerto Rico, telling anyone in the area to "move immediately to higher ground".
The warnings cover almost the entire island, including the capital San Juan and the entire stretch of coastline from there around the eastern and southern shorelines to west of Ponce.
Videos show metal bridge being ripped away
Some alarming footage is already emerging from Puerto Rico. According to CBS correspondent David Begnaud, a recently built metal bridge in the town of Utuado was simply washed away on Sunday morning, pulling metal railings out of the ground along with it.
The same event was shown in multiple videos from different angles that were posted on Sunday, suggesting it is authentic.
This seems to be the same bridge that was installed in 2018 to replace an earlier span that destroyed by Hurricane Maria , with $2.8m in funding from the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) according to local newspaper Primera Hora.
Gusts of up to 103mph in Ponce
It’s looking nasty out there. This footage via storm chaser Brett Adair shows hurricane winds blowing clouds of debris from rooftops and across parking lots as Fiona makes landfall.
Weather Channel on-camera meteorologist Mike Seidel also shared a video of what he called 103mph gusts in Ponce, a city on the southern coast of Puerto Rico.
Fiona now heading for Dominican Republic
The eye of Hurricane Fiona has cleared Puerto Rico and is now heading for the eastern Dominican Republic, according to the NHC.
In its latest bulletin about half an hour ago, the US agency said that the centre of the storm was now about eight miles west of Puerto Rico and heading northwest at around 9mph.
That puts the centre on track to pass over the Republic tonight and throughout Monday, before swinging near the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday.
But that doesn’t mean Puerto Rico is out of the woods. Conditions remain extremely dangerous, with hurricane-force winds extending for 30 miles from the eye and tropical-storm-force winds extending to 140 miles.
The NHC now says there will be “catastrophic flash and urban flooding” across Puerto Rico, and the eastern Dominican Republic.
One death so far linked to Hurricane Fiona
There has been one death reported so far that was tied to Hurricane Fiona, when authorities in Guadelope said a man wasfound dead after his house was swept away from floods.
French president Emmanuel Macron recognised a state of natural disaster on Sunday morning, authorising relief funds (Guadeloupe is an overseas province of France).
Sadly, there's every chance that death toll will rise today.
‘The damages we are seeing are catastrophic'
Puerto Rico officials have described “catastrophic” damage as Fiona sweeps across the island.
"The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic," said governor Pedro Pierluisi. “I urge people to stay in their homes,” said William Miranda Torres, mayor of the town of Caguas, which reportedly suffered landslides.
The electricity blackout apparently remains, with the island’s power transmission and distribution company Luma saying: "Current weather conditions are extremely dangerous and are hindering our capacity to evaluate the complete situation.”
The company added that power may not be fully restored for several days.
That left many health centres and essential services running on generators, while residents told Fox 13 Tampa that the island’s birds were “nowhere to be seen”, apparently taking shelter from the storm.
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