Residents of Turks and Caicos are the most recent victims of the wrath of Hurricane Fiona as the islands on Tuesday suffered a Category 3 hurricane. In the Dominican Republic, nearly 1 million people were left without running water and in Puerto Rico, almost 3.1 million people were left without power.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center stated that certain parts of the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos would have “life-threatening” flooding Tuesday. Storm surge could possibly raise water levels in the British territory by as much as 5 to 8 feet above normal, the hurricane center explained.
According to BBC, Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader says damage is “considerable”.
Hurricane Fiona was about 10 miles (15km) north-west of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands at 12:00 GMT on Tuesday, the NHC said. In a statement from London, where he attended the Queen’s funeral, Premier Washington Misick told residents of the archipelago to “carry out all necessary preparations” to protect their families and property.
Mr Abinader has declared three eastern provinces of the Dominican Republic to be disaster zones, amid warnings from the NHC of “heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash flooding”.
Several villages were cut off in the country as floodwaters rose, while hundreds of people were forced to leave their homes and thousands were left without power.
Late Tuesday morning, Hurricane Fiona was about 40 miles from Grand Turk, with hurricane-force winds out to 30 miles and tropical storm-force winds out to 150 miles.
According to the hurricane center, the storm was traveling 9 mph north-northwest and had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. In addition, once it approaches Bermuda on Friday, the storm will likely intensify much more, becoming a Category 4 hurricane.
