Hurricane Fiona bears down on Dominican Republic after ripping across Puerto Rico

Hurricane Fiona bore down on the Dominican Republic on Monday after knocking out the power grid and unleashing floods and landslides in Puerto Rico, where the governor said the damage was ‘catastrophic’.

Fiona was forecast to swipe the Dominican Republic early Monday and then northern Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands with the threat of heavy rain. It could threaten the far southern end of the Bahamas on Tuesday.

Hurricane warnings were posted for the Dominican Republic’s eastern coast from Cabo Caucedo to Cabo Frances Viejo, and for the Turks and Caicos.

No deaths in Puerto Rico have been reported where vast amounts of damage is said to have been caused across the island on Sunday afternoon.

Authorities in the U.S. territory said it was too early to estimate the damage from a storm that was still forecast to unleash torrential rain across Puerto Rico on Monday. Up to 30 inches was forecast for Puerto Rico’s eastern and southern regions.

‘It’s important people understand that this is not over,’ said Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Juan.

He said flooding has reached ‘historic levels,’ with authorities evacuating or rescuing hundreds of people across the island.

‘The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic,’ said Gov. Pedro Pierluisi.

Brown water rushed through streets, into homes and even consumed a runway airport in southern Puerto Rico.

Roads were turned into raging torrents as Fiona also ripped up asphalt from roads and washed away a bridge in the central mountain town of Utuado that police say was installed by the National Guard after Hurricane Maria hit in 2017 as a Category 5 storm.

The storm also ripped off the roofs of several homes, including that of Nelson Cirino in the northern coastal town of Loiza.

‘I was sleeping and saw when the corrugated metal flew off,’ he said as he observed how the rain drenched his belonging.

Ada Vivian Román, a 21-year-old photography student, said the storm knocked down trees and fences in her hometown of Toa Alta.

‘I´m actually very anxious because it’s a really slow-moving hurricane,’ she said.

She said she is also worried about whether the public transportation she relies on to get to her job at a public relations agency will be operating by the time she has to go back to the office.

‘But I know that I’m privileged compared with other families who are practically losing their homes because they are under water,’ she said.

Fiona was centered 50 miles southeast of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with maximum sustained winds of 85mph on Sunday night, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was moving to the northwest at 9 mph.

It hit on the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm.

As authorities continue to assess the damage from Fiona, many wondered when power would be restored.

‘That’s probably the worst damage there is,’ said Tomás Rivera, who co-owns a hotel in the southwest coastal town of El Combate.

Rivera said his employees brought bedridden family members to the hotel, where he has stocked up on diesel, gasoline, food, water and ice, given how slowly the government responded after Hurricane Maria. 

President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in the U.S. territory as the eye of the storm approached the island’s southwest corner. Puerto Rico’s ports have been closed and flights out of the main airport canceled.

The emergency declaration authorizes Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster relief efforts and provide emergency protective measures, the White House explained.

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said agency officials deployed to Puerto Rico will assist with restoration efforts ‘as it becomes safe to do so.’ Fiona was at hurricane strength as torrential rains deluged the Caribbean.

The blackout that Hurricane Maria caused was blamed for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in the storm´s sweltering aftermath, with power in some neighborhoods not restored until a year later. Maria was a devastating Category 5 storm that struck on September 20, 2017.

The entire island is once again without electricity plunging the island’s population of about 3.2 million people into a total blackout overnight. The ferocious wind ripped roofs from homes whilst the heavy rain also caused landslides.

Fiona hit about 15 miles south-southeast of Mayaguez with maximum sustained winds of 85mph, according to the US National Hurricane Centre. It was moving to the north-west at 9mph.

Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution, said bad weather, including winds of 80 mph, had disrupted transmission lines on Sunday, leading to ‘a blackout on all the island.’

Health centers were running on generators – and some of those had failed. Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said crews rushed to repair generators at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, where several patients had to be evacuated.

More than 3,000 homes still have only a blue tarp as a roof, and infrastructure remains weak, including the power grid. Outages remain common, and reconstruction started only recently.

The storm’s clouds covered the entire island and tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 140 miles from Fiona’s centre. 

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi tweeted at about 2pm on Sundaythat ‘the electrical system is currently out of service. Protocols have been activated according to plans established to address this situation.’ 

Pierluisi also announced on Sunday that public schools and government agencies would remain closed on Monday. 

‘The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic,’ he said. 

Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution, said bad weather, including winds of 80 mph, had disrupted transmission lines, leading to ‘a blackout on all the island’.

‘Current weather conditions are extremely dangerous and are hindering our capacity to evaluate the complete situation,’ it said, adding that it could take several days to fully restore power.

At a press conference in the capital San Juan on Sunday night, LUMA spokesman Abner Gomez said the entire electrical system had first been shut down to protect its infrastructure. Some power was being restored with priority being given to hospitals and other critical community services, he said.

‘This has been catastrophic,’ Pierluisi said at the news conference. ‘We are responding to the emergency as weather conditions permit.

Health centers were running on generators — and some of those had failed. Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said crews were working to repair generators as soon as possible at the Comprehensive Cancer Centre. 

‘I think all of us Puerto Ricans who lived through Maria have that post-traumatic stress of, `What is going to happen, how long is it going to last and what needs might we face?´’ said Danny Hernández, who works in the capital of San Juan but planned to weather the storm with his parents and family in the western town of Mayaguez.

He said the atmosphere was gloomy at the supermarket as he and others stocked up before the storm hit.

‘After Maria, we all experienced scarcity to some extent,’ he said.

The storm pummeled cities and towns along Puerto Rico´s southern coast that have not yet fully recovered from a string of strong earthquakes starting in late 2019.

More than 1,000 people with some 80 pets had sought shelter across the island by Sunday night, the majority of them in the southern coast.

P​hotos showed damaged buildings and flooded cars in Ponce, about 34 miles east of where Fiona made landfall.

‘These rains will produce life-threatening flash flooding and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and the eastern Dominican Republic, along with mudslides and landslides in areas of higher terrain,’ the Nation Hurricane Center said. 

‘I urge people to stay in their homes,’ said William Miranda Torres, mayor of the northern town of Caguas, where at least one large landslide was reported, with water rushing down a big slab of broken asphalt and into a gully. 

Authorities have opened about 80 shelters and closed beaches and casinos, and residents were urged to seek shelter.

The storm was forecast to pummel cities and towns along Puerto Rico´s southern coast that are still recovering from a string of strong earthquakes that hit the region starting in late 2019, with several schools still shuttered and debris to be removed.

Officials also reported several road closures across the island as trees and small landslides blocked access.

Ahead of the hurricane’s arrival, people boarded up windows and stocked up on food and water. 

Fiona hit just two days before the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a devastating Category 5 storm that struck on September 20, 2017, destroying the island’s power grid and causing nearly 3,000 deaths.

More than 3,000 homes still have only a blue tarp as a roof, and infrastructure remains weak.

‘What we´ve done is prepared ourselves to depend as little as possible on the central government,’ he said.

It’s a sentiment shared by 70-year-old Ana Córdova, who arrived Saturday at a shelter in the north coastal town of Loiza after buying loads of food and water.

‘I don’t trust them,’ she said, referring to the government. ‘I lost trust after what happened after Hurricane Maria.’

Denise Rios, who lives in the southwestern town of Hormigueros, said she was left without power following a strong gust of wind and rain that began around noon on Sunday.

‘Since then it hasn’t stopped,’ she said. ‘It is raining heavily and the wind is blowing hard. I’m calm, but alert.’

Fiona was forecast to swipe past the Dominican Republic on Monday and then northern Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands with the threat of heavy rain. It could threaten the far southern end of the Bahamas on Tuesday.

A hurricane warning was posted for the Dominican Republic’s eastern coast from Cabo Caucedo to Cabo Frances Viejo.

Fiona previously battered the eastern Caribbean, killing one man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floods washed his home away in the Basse-Terre district, officials said. 

France will recognize a state of natural disaster for Guadeloupe, President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter on Sunday. 

The storm also damaged roads, uprooted trees and destroyed at least one bridge.