Hurricane Fiona hits Puerto Rico, snaps electricity for 1.5 million people: What you need to know
North America's Puerto Rico is seeing its second catastrophic hurricane in the past five years. In 2017, hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico and was the worst disaster in the Island's history. Maria took out electricity, caused floods and landslides and killed around 3,000 people. Now, the residents are living in constant fear hoping for history to not repeat itself with hurricane Fiona.
Nearly 1.5 million residents of Puerto Rico were without electricity as a result of Fiona this Sunday afternoon, according to Reuters.
What is hurricane Fiona? The forecasters have said that hurricane Fiona will lead to more disasters, and this might be just the beginning. It has caused more than 76 cm of rain and has led to life-threatening floods and landslides. The winds are currently drawing at a speed of 86mph (140km/h).
Hurricanes every year? Hurricanes are fairly common in North America and this year is Atlantic hurricane season, (A annual tropical cyclone season in the Atlantic Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere. It happens between June 1 and November 30) has also seen at least six hurricanes. However, Fiona is way more intense than any of the others.
Other damages Fiona has caused? Apart from the power cuts, in Puerto Rico, It has already caused landfall in Guadeloupe, and the flooding prompted by the hurricane has washed away a whole bridge in the town of Utuado.
This is terrifying, the absolute power of water snapping metal. Sound on
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) September 18, 2022
Hurricane Fiona reached Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon, 16 inches of rainfall expected, triggering landslides and catastrophic floods pic.twitter.com/ang7cNAzpr
What is the government doing? On September 18, 2022, Joe Biden declared a state of emergency and all flights to and from Puerto Rico were cancelled.
Fioana's trail: On September 14, a tropical depression was formed in Puerto Rico, after a tropical wave emerged from West Africa (Atlantic Ocean).
- On September 15, it was assigned the name, Fiona.
- On September 16, it passed Guadeloupe, (southern Caribbean Sea).
- Two days later, it entered the main parts of the Caribbean Sea. (Causing havoc in Puerto Rico)
Now it is an inch closer to entering the Dominican Republic, where a warning has been already issued. (Dominica hasn't seen any major hurricane since 2005).