The cyclone is heading towards the Turks and Caicos Islands – Roads were cut in half, houses were flooded, thousands of people were left without power and at least 2 people lost their lives.
The Caribbean paradise is at the mercy of Cyclone Fiona.
THE Cyclone Fiona hit the Dominican Republic yesterday Monday, after first “hitting” Puerto Rico, its neighbor in the Caribbean Sea, causing floods and “catastrophic” damage. There, residents still lack electricity and continue to endure heavy rains.
At Dominican Republic (Saint Dominic), the cyclone left behind one dead and 12,485 residents who were forced to leave their homes, according to General Juan Mendes Garcia, director of the emergency operations center.
Roads were flooded or cut in half by fallen trees and power lines around the beach resort of Punta Cana in the eastern part of the Dominican Republic, where power was cut, AFP reporters found.
Winds reached up to 150 kilometers per hour and Fiona is expected to strengthen “over the next two days”, reaching Category 3 (on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale) today, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said ), based in Miami.
The cyclone is heading towards the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Torrential rain and wind gusts up to 85 miles an hour battered the Dominican Republic as Hurricane Fiona made its way through the Caribbean https://t.co/5wshX1FgBO pic.twitter.com/d8B64wCRJn
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 20, 2022
Videos broadcast by local media showed residents of the coastal town of Yiwei in waist-deep water trying to salvage their belongings.
State of emergency in Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, where the cyclone passed first, and where a tropical storm warning is still in effect, “the damage to infrastructure (…) and to homes is catastrophic,” said the governor of this American territory, Pedro Pierluisi, during a press conference.
All of Puerto Rico of more than three million people suffered a power outage as the hurricane approached the island. Yesterday Monday, the supply was restored to the homes of 100,000 people, according to the governor.
The cyclone caused landslides, uprooted trees, toppled power grid poles, made roads impassable and swept away a bridge in the town of Utuado.
A man died, “charred” while trying to put fuel into a running generator, according to authorities.
“Unfortunately, we expect further rain across the island today and tomorrow,” the governor of Puerto Rico said yesterday, calling on residents not to risk moving on the roads.
“In many areas, where flooding has never occurred before, we have an unprecedented concentration of water,” greater “even than we saw in Hurricane Maria,” Mr. Pierluisi explained.
More than 800,000 people, according to the authorities, no longer have a supply of drinking water.
US President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency. He spoke yesterday with the governor of the island and said that members of federal agencies are already working to help, there are over 300 already and will increase.
RES-EMP
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I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
