As she crossed the Atlantic Ocean, Fiona devastated Puerto Rico and 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.
Porto Rico: Striking almost exactly five years after Hurricane Maria, Fiona caused torrential rains and an island-wide power outage as it made landfall on Sunday, leaving 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 Wednesday, according to Puerto Rico Housing Secretary William Rodriguez.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved a major disaster declaration for the United States territory, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The mayor of New York has deployed personnel from city agencies to Puerto Rico to help officials assess the damage.
Dominican Republic: As of Friday morning, there were more than 210,000 customers without power in the Dominican Republic, according to Major General 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 were affected by Hurricane Fiona and 2,262 homes were destroyed due to the storm, Méndez García said.
