Hurricane Fiona made landfall in the Dominican Republic on Monday morning after causing devastation to Puerto Rico over the weekend.
The Dominican Republic was hit with heavy rain and strong winds that caused power outages, flooding, and roofs to be blown off of buildings as of Monday afternoon. Fiona intensified to a Category 2 storm after touching land in the Dominican Republic.
“It’s important people understand that this is not over,” said Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Juan.
The Weather Channel reported the Dominican Republic will see around 4-8 inches of rain with the possibility of 20 inches. There has been one reported death due to falling trees. Authorities closed ports and beaches, according to the Associated Press.
Fiona, which has maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, is heading away from the Dominican Republic as of Monday evening but is being forecasted to “start tracking north into the southwest Atlantic Ocean where it’s expected to intensify,” The Weather Channel reported.
Forecasters said the center of the storm is headed towards Turks and Caicos on Tuesday, with an expectation of 4-8 inches of rainfall.
At least two people are dead in Puerto Rico from the storm and around 1 million residents are without power. About 200,000 do not have access to clean water.
Puerto Rico has seen around 27 inches of rain from Fiona with the possibility of reaching 30 inches.
The damages in Puerto Rico were described as “catastrophic” by Gov. Pedro Pierluisi.
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