On Sunday around 3pm local time (9pm in Italy) Hurricane Fiona arrived on the southwestern shores of the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, which is part of the United States as “non-incorporated territory“. Although the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the US national center that deals with hurricane monitoring, has classified it “category 1”, the lowest on the scale by which hurricane intensity is measured, Fiona has caused major floods and a blackout across the island, inhabited by 3.3 million people. For now there have been no injuries.
Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico on Sunday, causing severe damage, with footage showing the destruction of a bridge in the mountain town of Utuado that police say was installed by the National Guard after Hurricane Maria in 2017. https://t.co/8wAeTNUESJ pic.twitter.com/47nCbZJfcf
– ABC News (@ABC) September 18, 2022
The hurricane is bringing gusts of wind up to 140 kilometers per hour and is heading northwest towards the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Meanwhile the winds and rains have flooded many roads and the whole island has been without electricity.
Local authorities said it could take days to get electricity back. For now it has only been restored in hospitals and other facilities considered “essential”.
There have also been several landslides and landslides, and a flooding river destroyed a highway bridge in Utuado, a town in the center of the island. As a precaution, all ports have been closed, and flights departing from the main airport have been canceled.
The entire island of Puerto Rico was without electricity when Hurricane Fiona landed and threatened to cause “catastrophic floods” and landslides. https://t.co/mPlmuME5Ne pic.twitter.com/BRR7NfDGCT
– Reuters (@Reuters) September 19, 2022
On Monday, the hurricane is expected to move northwest, leave the coast of Puerto Rico and head towards the Dominican Republic, then towards the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bahamas.
The damage caused on Sunday in Puerto Rico is however rather limited: the greatest concern of the inhabitants and local authorities was that the arrival of Hurricane Fiona could repeat what happened in 2017, when Hurricane Maria it caused nearly 3 thousand deaths, destroyed thousands of homes and left many people in conditions of enormous difficulty.
This is terrifying, the sheer power of the metal that triggers the water. Sound on
Hurricane Fiona reached Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon, with 16 inches of rain forecast, causing catastrophic landslides and floods pic.twitter.com/ang7cNAzpr
– Science girl (@ gunsnrosesgirl3) September 18, 2022
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