Hurricane Fiona deprived Puerto Rico of electricity on Sunday, pouring torrential rains and causing “considerable” damage on this American island, before heading towards the Dominican Republic. Fiona has caused landslides, downed trees and power lines, made roads impassable and led to the collapse of a bridge, among other things. in the city of Utuadoin the mountainous region located in the center of the island, Governor Pedro Pierluisi said during a press conference on Sunday evening.
The whole territory, which has more than three million inhabitants, was deprived of electricity as the hurricane approached, Pedro Pierluisi added, saying that the electricity network was out of service. The hurricane, which hit at 3:20 p.m. local time (7:20 p.m. GMT) on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico, near Punta Tocon, carrying winds of up to 140 km / h, is now located off Puerto Rico. Rico and is expected to hit the Dominican Republic on Monday. However, torrential rains are expected to continue to fall on the island overnight from Sunday to Monday, causing sudden and devastating floods.
Already damage in Guadeloupe
Fiona will remain a “catastrophic event due to the consequences of flooding” in the central mountain region, east and south of Puerto Rico, tweeted Pedro Pierluisi, adding that 23 to 33 cm of rain fell in just five hours. “Rainfall amounts will produce catastrophic flash floods and urban flooding in Puerto Rico and parts of the eastern Dominican Republic, as well as mudslides and landslides in high ground areas,” he said. said the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Ahead of Fiona’s arrival in the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader announced that public and private services would be closed on Monday. Heavy rains began to fall on Sunday evening in Nagua (north), a coastal town of around 80,000 inhabitants located in one of the regions declared on red alert. The depression, which upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday, is expected to strengthen and become “significant within 48 hours” according to the NHC, before heading north towards the Atlantic Ocean. .
Fiona had already caused serious damage during her visit to Guadeloupe overnight from Friday to Saturday. In places, the water rose more than 1.50 meters. A man died there, carried away with his house by the waves of a flooded river. US President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico on Sunday, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance.