As it churned through the Atlantic Ocean, Fiona left devastation on Puerto Rico and some other Caribbean islands.
The first major hurricane of this year’s Atlantic season killed at least five people: one in Guadeloupe, two in Puerto Rico and two in the Dominican Republic.
Puerto Rico: Hitting almost exactly five years after Hurricane Maria, Fiona delivered flooding rains and an islandwide blackout as it made landfall Sunday, with more than 450,000 people without water or with intermittent service, according to the government’s emergency portal system.
As of Saturday morning, about 785,000 customers were without power, according to poweroutage.us.
Across the island, more than 800 people were housed in dozens of shelters as of Wednesday, according to Puerto Rico’s housing secretary, William Rodriguez.
President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration Wednesday for the US territory, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. New York City’s mayor has deployed staff from city agencies to Puerto Rico to help officials surveying damage.
Dominican Republic: As of Friday morning, there were over 210,000 customers without power in the Dominican Republic, according to Maj. Gen. Juan Méndez García, director of the country’s emergency operations center.
Méndez García said more than 725,000 customers were without running water across the country as of Thursday morning.
A total of 8,708 households have been affected by Hurricane Fiona and 2,262 homes have been destroyed due to the storm, Méndez García said.
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