Hurricane Fiona knocked out electricity across Puerto Rico and is now heading toward the the eastern Dominican Republic as it blows through the Caribbean. (Photo: Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) – Hurricane Fiona, which left catastrophic flooding and a wrecked power grid across Puerto Rico, is now raking the eastern Dominican Republic as it rips through the Caribbean.
Fiona's top winds dropped to 85 miles per hour, down from 90 mph earlier, as it moved back into the Atlantic, the US National Hurricane Center said Monday in an 11 a.m. advisory. The storm will regain strength as it moves over the warm ocean water.
"Heavy rains from Fiona will continue to produce life-threatening and catastrophic flooding along with mudslides and landslides across Puerto Rico though tonight," Richard Pasch, a senior hurricane specialist at the center, said in his forecast. "Life-threatening flash and urban flooding is likely for eastern portions of the Dominican Republic through early Tuesday."
The entire electric grid in Puerto Rico failed after Fiona came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane Sunday, but power is now being restored to its 3.1 million residents, with priority given to hospitals and critical infrastructure. Josue Colon, executive director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, said Fiona triggered an automatic shutdown of power plants.
Damage could reach beyond $2 billion on Puerto Rico and an additional $1 billion to $2 billion on the Dominican Republic, Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler for Enki Research, said on his blog.
The storm caused "catastrophic damage," Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said Sunday at a press conference. "The entire situation is delicate and sad."
Fiona is the sixth storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season and the first to cause widespread damage. While preseason forecasts called for an active season, so far the few storms that have formed have either been weak or too far out in the Atlantic to cause any lasting destruction.
If the forecast holds, Fiona will gain power as it drifts over or near the Turks and Caicos Tuesday. It could become a major Category 3 hurricane, with winds of 125 miles per hour, in three days as it nears Bermuda. The storm isn't forecast to be a threat to the US East Coast, although it could clip the Canadian Maritimes or Newfoundland by this weekend.
Meanwhile, Typhoon Nanmadol has lost power as it moves across Japan. The storm struck Kyushu Sunday, killing at least two people and forcing thousands to evacuate as it brought widespread flooding.
–With assistance from Jim Wyss.
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