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Tropical Storm Fiona continues to threaten the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend, nearly five years to the day since Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on the island.
This time, Fiona focuses on the Caribbean and will bring heavy rains and possible flash floods and mudslides, though nothing on the scale of the “once in a century” storm brought by Maria that killed 3,000 people.
The storm approached the Leeward Islands, about 350 miles east of Puerto Rico, on Friday morning, according to battery weather. The Meteorological Service says the risk to life and property in parts of the island is “moderate” to “high”.
Sustained winds were about 50 miles per hour on Friday, slightly less than Thursday’s 60 miles per hour wind. The wind is expected to remain in that margin this weekend.
In some places on the island, up to 30 centimeters of rain could fall, with most of the area reaching at least four to eight inches.
According to the National Hurricane Center, tropical storm winds extend outward as far as 140 miles, up from 125 miles earlier on Friday.
It has been a relatively calm storm season so far, with Fiona being the sixth storm to form in the Atlantic on Wednesday evening. The US National Hurricane Center has issued tropical storm watches for the easternmost islands of the Caribbean.
On Thursday, Fiona moved at a speed of 13 mph with maximum sustained winds of about 80 mph, forecasters said. Little change in strength is expected in the coming days.
Tropical Storm Fiona continues to threaten the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend, nearly five years to the day since Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on the island
Sustained winds were about 50 miles per hour on Friday, slightly less than Thursday’s 60 miles per hour wind. Winds are expected to stay in that range for the weekend
Accuweather says risk to life and property is ‘moderate’ to ‘high’ in parts of the island
In places on the island, up to 30 inches of rain can fall, with most of the area getting at least 4 to 8 inches
The island of Puerto Rico was signed five years ago after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, knocking out the entire power grid
Puerto Rico will see the first impact from Fiona early Saturday morning with rain pouring in as the storm moves south of the island.
Heavy rains continue through Sunday morning, raising the threat of flash flooding and mudslides.
Fiona then passes through the Dominican Republic, where up to 12 inches of rain can fall, before heading to Haiti.
Early next week, the storm will approach Turks and Caicos with likely hurricane strength.
It’s too early to say whether Fiona will have any impact on the mainland United States.
Forecast models are oriented a bit more south and west with the Fiona circuit for next week.
There is still a lot of uncertainty in the track and strength after this weekend.
However, if the system’s current trend a little further west continues, the Bahamas and possibly Florida should keep a close eye on the storm in mid or late next week.
Cars drive through a flooded road in the wake of Hurricane Maria in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The storm devastated the island of 3.4 million dead nearly 3,000
2018: A view of the stands and pitch at the Roberto Clemente Municipal Stadium after Hurricane Maria blew it to pieces
Fiona is expected to produce total rainfall of three to six inches with isolated higher amounts over the northern Leeward Islands, British and US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and eastern Hispaniola.
Ocean swells should begin to affect the northern Leeward Islands by early Friday, causing life-threatening surf and rip currents.
“There will be a short period, until Friday, where Fiona can gain some strength as a tropical storm, despite disruptive wind shear,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Rob Richards said.
“After Friday, the interaction with the increasingly larger islands and higher mountains over the northern Caribbean is likely to lead to weakening or at the very least cause the reinforcement to stop.”
The peak of the hurricane season runs from mid-August to early October, with September being the busiest month of the season on average.
So far, half of all storms mentioned this season have started in September.
The worst storm to hit Puerto Rico recently was Hurricane Maria in 2017, which devastated the entire island and caused a major humanitarian crisis.
Maria was the strongest storm to hit the island in nearly 90 years.
Maria arrived in Puerto Rico on September 20 as a high-end Category 4 storm, bringing with it a major storm surge, very heavy rainfall and gusts well over 100 mph.
It flattened neighborhoods, flattened the island’s electrical grid and caused an estimated 2,982 deaths and $90 billion in damage.
2018: A resident carries a wooden plank while repairing a house damaged by Hurricane Maria in the town of Punta Santiago, Humacao, Puerto Rico