(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
Hurricane Fiona was churning north on Monday evening after
bringing torrential rain and powerful winds to the Dominican
Republic and triggering a total power outage in neighboring Puerto
Rico, where at least two people died, Trend reports citing Reuters .
The Category 2 hurricane will likely become a Category 3 as it
moves across warm Caribbean waters toward the Turks and Caicos.
Fiona was upgraded to a Category 2 with winds of 105 mph (169 kph)
by the National Hurricane Center on Monday evening.
On Tuesday, the center of Fiona is expected to pass near or to
the east of the archipelago, which is subject to a current
hurricane warning, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Tropical storm conditions were also expected in the Bahamas.
After strafing Puerto Rico, Fiona made landfall in the Dominican
Republic near Boca Yuma at 3:30 a.m. local time, according to the
NHC. The center of the storm reached the northern coast of
Hispaniola before noon.
It is the first hurricane to score a direct hit on the Dominican
Republic since Jeanne left severe damage in the east of the country
in September 2018.
Fiona caused severe flooding, leaving several villages isolated,
and some 800 evacuees and more than 11,000 people without power in
the eastern region of the country.
'The damage is considerable,' said Dominican Republic President
Luis Abinader. He plans to declare a state of disaster in the
provinces of La Altagracia, where the famed resort of Punta Cana is
located, El Seibo and Hato Mayor.
In La Altagracia, in the extreme east of the country and where
the hurricane made landfall Monday morning, the overflow of the
Yuma River damaged agricultural areas and left several towns
isolated.
Electric and water utilities are working to restore services in
affected areas.
In Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States, residents were
still facing strong winds, frequent lightning and heavy rain.
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