Puerto Rico hit by blackout as Hurricane Fiona makes landfall

The entire island of Puerto Rico was without power on Sunday as Hurricane Fiona made landfall and threatened to cause “catastrophic flooding” and landslides before barreling toward the Dominican Republic, a government agency said.

The centre of the storm made landfall on the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico near Punta Tocon at 3:20 p.m. ET with maximum sustained winds of about 85 miles per hour 140 km/h, clearing the threshold for a Category 1 hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Electricity was out across the island of 3.3 million people, LUMA Energy, operator of the island’s grid and the Puerto Rico power authority said in a statement. LUMA said restoring power fully could take several days.

Puerto Rico’s ports have been closed and flights out of the main airport cancelled. Torrential rains and mudslides were also forecast for the Dominican Republic as the storm progresses northwestward, with the Turks and Caicos Islands likely facing tropical storm conditions on Tuesday, the NHC said.

“These rains will produce life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and the eastern Dominican Republic, along with mudslides and landslides in areas of higher terrain,” the agency said.

U.S. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in the U.S. territory as the eye of the storm approached the island’s southwest corner.

Puerto Rico’s largest public hospital was running on generators and at some centres, those had failed. Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said crews were working to repair generators as soon as possible at the Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Hurricane Maria caused nearly 3,000 deaths

Fiona hit just two days before the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a devastating Category 4 storm that struck the island on Sept. 20, 2017, destroying its power grid and causing nearly 3,000 deaths.

More than 3,000 homes still have only blue tarps as roofs, and infrastructure remains weak.

“I think all of us Puerto Ricans who lived through Maria have that post-traumatic stress of, ‘What is going to happen, how long is it going to last and what needs might we face?”‘ said Danny Hernandez, who works in the capital of San Juan but planned to weather the storm with his parents and family in the western town of Mayaguez.