Tropical storm Fiona set to slam Puerto Rico US Virgin Island fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria

Tropical Storm Fiona is on its way to threaten the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend, nearly five years after the day 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.

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.

“Interests in the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico should monitor the progress of this system,” the center said.

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.

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 will continue Sunday morning, increasing the threat of flash flooding and mudslides.

The island is expected to see between 3 and 6 inches of rain, while the mountains will take 6 to 10 inches. Widespread power outages are possible throughout Puerto Rico.

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.

At this point, Fiona was about 845 miles east of the Leeward Islands, and tropical storm watchers were issued for Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat and Anguilla, forecasters said.

Fiona is expected to produce total rainfall of 3 to 6 inches with increased amounts isolated 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.