Puerto Rico resident says Hurricane Fiona has devastated more homes than Maria
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What we covered
Fiona has strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane and is forecast to pass near or to the east of the Turks and Caicos on Tuesday.
By Thursday, it is expected to pass near or west of Bermuda as a dangerous Category 3 or 4 hurricane.
Two people died after the hurricane slammed Puerto Rico, swamping the island in places with up to 30 inches of rain. It also caused “life-threatening flash flooding” in the eastern portions of the Dominican Republic.
Most of Puerto Rico suffered power outages that will take several days to resolve, officials said.
Several organizations have teams on the ground providing assistance. You can help them here.
In the storm’s path? Bookmark CNN’s lite site for fast connectivity.
Our live coverage has ended. Read more about Hurricane Fiona in the posts below.
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Strengthening Hurricane Fiona heading toward Turks and Caicos on Tuesday
From CNN's Taylor Ward
After pounding Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Hurricane Fiona has strengthened and is forecast to pass near or to the east of the Turks and Caicos early Tuesday.
Maximum sustained winds are now 105 mph, making Fiona a Category 2 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane is steadily strengthening over the warm waters of the Atlantic.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the Turks and Caicos, a British territory southeast of the Bahamas.
Beyond Turks and Caicos, Fiona is expected to pass near or west of Bermuda on Thursday night as a dangerous Category 3 or 4 hurricane.
The hurricane center noted that Fiona is still producing heavy rainfall and “life-threatening flash flooding” in the eastern portions of the Dominican Republic.
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Power could be restored to most of Puerto Rico in a matter of days, governor says
From CNN's Jamiel Lynch
People clean a house flooded by the rains from Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico on September 18.
(Stephanie Rojas/AP)
The damage in Puerto Rico is mostly rain-related, Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said Monday.
Only about 115,000 out of 1.4 million customers currently have power, he said.
The entire island was in the dark early Monday, PowerOutage.us reported.
Additionally, only about a third of customers are getting water services because filtration plants are being impacted by the river flooding and excess rain, the governor said.
Pierluisi said he was hopeful that within a “matter of days” power will be restored to most customers, though he said they haven’t been able to inspect many of the power lines due to the lingering impacted of Fiona.
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Dozens of people were rescued by the National Guard in Puerto Rico
From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch
Soldiers from the 125th Military Police Battalion help rescue families trapped by the floods caused by Hurricane Fiona.
(From PR National Guard)
The Puerto Rico National Guard rescued dozens of people from severe flooding caused by Hurricane Fiona, the agency said in a statement, adding the storm also caused widespread power outages.
The National Guard has more than 450 members on the ground to assist people in need after heavy rains and damaging winds struck the island on Sunday.
They included 21 elderly, bedridden people who were rescued from an elderly home in Cayey that was threatened by mudslides, the statement said.
Additionally, 59 people and 13 pets were rescued from a flooded community in Mayagüez.
National Guard personnel also rescued people in Salinas, Toa Baja and Añasco, among other municipalities in Puerto Rico, the statement said.
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2 people have died as a result of Hurricane Fiona, Puerto Rico official says
From CNN’s Amanda Musa
At least two people died as a result of Hurricane Fiona, a spokesperson for Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi told CNN on Monday.
A 58-year-old man died after being swept away by La Plata River behind his home in Comerío. Another man in his 30s died after attempting to fill his generator with gasoline while it was on, setting it on fire, according to spokesperson Sheila Angleró-Mojica.
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Former San Juan mayor outlines ideal next steps for helping Puerto Rico
People clean debris from a road after a mudslide caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico on September 18.
(Stephanie Rojas/AP)
As Hurricane Fiona moves away from Puerto Rico, communities there are going to need help in order to recover and rebuild, according to Carmen Yulín Cruz, the former mayor of San Juan. And she laid out the some steps for what she believes should happen next.
The first is the provision of equipment.
She told CNN on Monday that mayors are telling her they need machinery to move mud from mudslides before it sets and becomes “really, really sticky and almost impenetrable.”
They will need to clear out this mud in the next few days once it stops raining in order to ensure first responders and aid workers can reach communities safely, Yulín Cruz said.
Also, she said, FEMA needs to adapt to the local conditions, noting that the agency had recently reported that most municipalities don’t have the English language skills, which can delay some technical processes when responding to an emergency.
When it comes to rebuilding the infrastructure itself, the former mayor said “we need to start looking for permanent solutions to recurrent problems.”
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Hurricane Fiona strengthens to Category 2
From CNN's Taylor Ward
A man walks through debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico on September 19.
(Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters)
Hurricane Fiona is strengthening again as the center of the storm moves away from the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. Maximum sustained winds are up to 100 mph, making it a Category 2 storm.
The tropical storm warning for Puerto Rico has been discontinued as the threat of strong winds has diminished. There is a lingering flood threat as heavy rain from the outer bands continues to impact the island. Additional rainfall of 4 to 8 inches is possible, especially in the heaviest bands, according to the National Hurricane Center’s forecast.
The center of Fiona is now located about 130 miles southeast of Grand Turk. On the forecast track, the center of the storm will pass near or to the east of the Turks and Caicos on Tuesday.
Beyond tomorrow, Fiona is expected to become a Category 3 or 4 hurricane and pass near or west of Bermuda Thursday night.
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Biden pledges response and recovery support to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Fiona
From CNN's Nikki Carvajal
Homes are flooded on Salinas Beach after the passing of Hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico on Monday.
(Alejandro Granadillo/AP)
President Biden spoke to Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi about the “immediate needs of the people of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Fiona” on Monday. The President was flying back from Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral during the call, the White House says.
Biden also told Pierluisi he would “ensure that the Federal team remains on the job to get it done, especially given that Puerto Rico is still recovering from the damage of Hurricane Maria five years ago this week,” the readout said.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell will travel to Puerto Rico Tuesday to “meet with State and local officials and impacted citizens and assess urgent needs that the President has directed FEMA to meet,” the White House added.
As CNN previously reported, rescuers are scrambling to save flooding victims in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona wiped out power to most of the island before crashing into the Dominican Republic.
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The climate crisis is making hurricanes more intense. Here's how.
From CNN's Rachel Ramirez
Residents stand amid their homes that were damaged by Hurricane Fiona in the neighborhood of Kosovo in Veron de Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on September 19.
(Ricardo Hernandez/AP)
Hurricanes are enormous heat engines of wind and rain that feed on warm ocean water and moist air — and scientists say the climate crisis is making them more potent.
The proportion of high-intensity hurricanes has increased due to warmer global temperatures, according to a UN climate report released in August. Scientists have also found that the storms are more likely to stall and lead to devastating rainfall and they last longer after making landfall.
“We have good confidence that greenhouse warming increases the maximum wind intensity that tropical cyclones can achieve,” Jim Kossin, senior scientist with the Climate Service, an organization that provides climate risk modeling and analytics to governments and businesses, told CNN.
When hurricanes are stronger and move slower, they dump more rain, meaning more damage and flooding in the areas they pass over.
A 2020 study published in the journal Nature also found storms are moving farther inland than they did five decades ago. Hurricanes, which are fueled by warm ocean water, typically weaken after moving over land, but in recent years they have been raging longer after landfall. The study concludes that warmer sea surface temperatures are leading to a “slower decay” by increasing moisture that a hurricane carries.
For every fraction of a degree the planet warms, according to the UN report, rainfall rates from high-intensity storms will increase, as warmer air can hold more moisture. Earlier this week, what had been Tropical Storm Fred dumped more than 10 inches of rain on western North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service, which pushed the Pigeon River near Canton nine feet above flood stage and killed at least four people.
2 people dead in Puerto Rico shelters from "natural causes," governor says
From CNN’s Amanda Musa
Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said during a press conference Monday at least two people have died at shelters on the island.
Asked if the fatalities were caused by Hurricane Fiona, Pierluisi said they do not know of any traumatic deaths and the two people at the shelters died from natural causes.
Meanwhile, Pierluisi said there are currently no reports of anyone missing due to the storm.
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Rebuilding efforts need to look to the future — not the past, former FEMA official says
Volunteers remove the water brought by Hurricane Fiona at a storm shelter in Salinas, Puerto Rico on Monday, September 19.
(Stephanie Rojas/AP)
Craig Fugate, a former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator, said natural disasters and storms like Hurricane Fiona, the rebuilding process needs to be looking towards the future, not the past.
Almost exactly five years ago, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico with high winds, but now some of the same communities are facing a different problem with Hurricane Fiona — devastating flooding and a lot of rain, something they didn’t experience during Hurricane Maria.
Fugate said that when rebuilding starts and officials go back into the areas where people are living, they need to “build back against all the threats of these storms. It isn’t just wind that we’re seeing with this storm.”
The former FEMA administrator said much of the infrastructure that was repaired after Maria was temporary. Now, most of it was washed away by flooding from Fiona.
“It’s important that when we rebuild after these disaster, we’re rebuilding for the future, not what’s happened in the past,” he told CNN on Monday.
The role of the climate crisis: Hurricanes — also called tropical cyclones or typhoons outside North America — are enormous heat engines of wind and rain that feed on warm ocean water and moist air. And scientists say the climate crisis is making them more potent.
The proportion of high-intensity hurricanes has increased due to warmer global temperatures, according to a UN climate report released last month. Scientists have also found that the storms are more likely to stall and lead to devastating rainfall and they last longer after making landfall.
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More than 1 million people without water as Hurricane Fiona hits Dominican Republic
From CNN's Melissa Alonso
A person walks amidst debris on the seashore in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on September 19.
(Ricardo Rojas/Reuters)
Hurricane Fiona has knocked 59 aqueducts out of service in the Dominican Republic, with several others partially functioning, leaving more than 1 million customers without running water, said Jose Luis German Mejia, a Dominican Republic emergency management (COE) official.
There’s already damage to many structures across the Dominican Republic, said Juan Manuel Mendez, the country’s emergency management director of operations. At least 54 homes have been reported damaged so far, he said.
Emergency officials transported 789 people to safety, Mendez said at a briefing Monday. There are currently 519 people in 29 shelters, he said.
There are 10 electric circuits offline currently, but officials did not have an exact number of how many customers were without power.
Mejia said “this is still an emergency event” and the storm is still affecting the country.
Raquel Peña, the nation’s vice president, tweeted Monday afternoon urging the Dominican people “to be attentive to the information from” COE and officials “given that the effects of hurricane #Fiona will continue in the next few hours.”
“The government is in permanent session, responding to the emergency,” she said.
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"It's unbelievable": Some Puerto Rico residents say Hurricane Fiona is worse than Hurricane Maria
Residents affected by Hurricane Fiona rest at a storm shelter in Salinas, Puerto Rico on Monday.
(Stephanie Rojas/AP)
Dealing with catastrophic flooding, mudslides and widespread power outages, some people in Puerto Rico are comparing the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona to Hurricane Maria — the devastating storm that hit the island almost exactly five years ago.
Juan Miguel Gonzalez, a business owner in southern Puerto Rico, told CNN correspondent Leyla Santiago that he thinks Hurricane Fiona has been worse than Maria. He said a lot of people have lost everything in the flooding.
As search and rescue efforts continue on Monday, Gonzalez told Santiago that it’s a small town and residents there feel like they need to take care of themselves.
“Who’s going to take care of this town? Nobody, you know what I’m saying? If we don’t take care of it, nobody’s going to take care of it,” he said.
The National Guard was called in to rescue hundreds of people overnight, Santiago reported, but there are still places in Puerto Rico that are too dangerous for rescue crews to get to as rain continues to fall on Monday.
Some background: Hurricane Maria inflicted catastrophic damage to the territory’s infrastructure. It took almost a year for power to be restored across the island.
Right now, after Fiona, more than 1 million people are still without power, as of Monday morning. Additionally, about 66% of customers don’t have water, Santiago reported.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says the response to Maria was the largest and longest to a domestic disaster in US history. Massive flooding damaged more than half a million homes. Many families are still rebuilding.
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Here's how you can help people impacted by Hurricane Fiona
A man wades through water in a flooded street in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico on September 19.
(Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters)
Millions of people in Puerto Rico are still without power as of Monday morning after Hurricane Fiona made landfall this weekend as a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 90 mph.
The storm is continuing to bring torrential rain to the island, even as it starts to move into the Atlantic. Fiona is expected to strengthen and could hit Turks and Caicos as a Category 2 hurricane on Tuesday and threaten Bermuda later this week.
Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria five years ago. Now, as the island starts to recover from Fiona, several organizations already have teams on the ground providing assistance. You can help them here.
Hurricane Fiona will strengthen and move into the Atlantic
A cyclist observes the strong waves in Nagua, Dominican Republic on September 19.
(Orlando Barria/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Hurricane Fiona is likely to strengthen as it moves into the Atlantic, according to the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center.
In its most recent forecast at 2 p.m. local time, the hurricane center said the “center of Fiona will pass near or to the east of the Turks and Caicos on Tuesday,” where it is predicting 4 to 8 inches of rain.
Northern and eastern parts of the Dominican Republic will also be impacted by tropical storm conditions, with an additional 4 to 8 inches of rain, according to the hurricane center. Some local areas could get up to 10 inches of rain total, the forecast said.
As the storm turns to the north-northwest, it will strengthen over the next few days and “become a major hurricane by Wednesday,” the forecast said. Hurricane-force winds can extend up to 30 miles away from the center of the storm.
Puerto Rico: The hurricane center said the island will see more rain and tropical storm conditions on Monday.
Southern parts of Puerto Rico could see an additional 4 to 8 inches of rain. All of this rain will produce “life-threatening and catastrophic flooding along with mudslides landslides across Puerto Rico,” the forecast said.
Most of the island is still without power, local officials said.
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Officials warn of dangerous tide conditions on East Coast from Hurricane Fiona
The National Weather Service is warning anyone visiting East Coast beaches to be aware of potentially dangerous tide conditions caused by Hurricane Fiona.
The storm is continuing to bring heavy rain and flooding to Puerto Rico on Monday, as much of the island remains without power.
The NWS said in a tweet that while Fiona will stay offshore of the US, it could lead to strong rip currents and rough surf starting Wednesday through the end of the week.
The NWS in Wilmington, North Carolina, shared a map showing those factors affecting the coast near Myrtle Beach, Carolina Beach and Surf City.
Read more:
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Hurricane Fiona is the third hurricane to form this month as NOAA predicts above-average season
From CNN's Payton Major and Allison Chinchar
Although scientists say it got off to a slow start, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Colorado State University predict this Atlantic hurricane season is still expected to be above-normal. This is according to the most recent forecasts released last month.
Hurricane Danielle was the season’s first hurricane, officially getting the designation on Sept. 2. That means that last month was the first August in 25 years to go without a single named storm in the Atlantic.
The last time a season’s first hurricane came this late was on Sept. 11, 2013, with Hurricane Humberto.
The average date for the season’s first hurricane is August 11.
This was only the third August since 1950 that the Atlantic saw no named storm. And it’s the first time since 1941 that there wasn’t a named storm in the Atlantic from July 3 to August 30, said Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist at Colorado State University.
San Juan port expected to reopen Monday, Puerto Rico lawmaker says
The San Juan port is expected to open Monday afternoon as Hurricane Fiona continues to dump heavy rain, said Jenniffer González, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting member of Congress.
The St. Thomas maritime port has already reopened, she tweeted.
González said in a tweet that the US Coast Guard will start search and rescue missions “by air and sea soon.”
“They anticipate that there may be sunken small vessels, but so far have no received reports,” she said.
Read her tweets:
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1,000 people have been rescued from Hurricane Fiona flood waters, official says
From CNN's Melissa Alonso
Members of the Puerto Rico National Guard rescue a woman stranded in her house in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico on Monday, September 19.
(Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters)
Emergency crews have rescued 1,000 people so far in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona, according to Maj. Gen. José J. Reyes, the adjutant general of the Puerto Rico National Guard.
Responders rescued one woman who was hanging from a tree for seven hours after she attempted to cross flood waters. In the same area, officials said emergency crews also helped three more people who also tried to get across rising water.
The general said rescues were widespread and urged everyone to heed warnings from officials. Reyes said there were also many rescues overnight and into the morning in Salinas after the river burst.
“What we don’t want is loss of life,” Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said.
The governor said 75% of the cellular infrastructure is operational following the brunt of the storm. He attributed the functioning communications to generator upgrades made after Hurricane Maria.
“Maria served as an exercise for the people who handle emergencies, at all levels, the coordination during Fiona has been exemplary,” the governor said. “The communication has been excellent, but this is not over… we keep going 24/7,” he added.
Most of the island is still without power.
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New York, New Jersey and California to send first responders to Puerto Rico
From CNN's Melissa Alonso
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said Monday that the New York governor will send 100 first responders to assist with recovery efforts after Hurricane Fiona, as soon as weather permits travel. New Jersey and California’s governors have also pledged to send help, he said.
FEMA has 400 officials on the island currently dedicated to Hurricane Fiona recovery, Pierluisi said, adding that he plans to request a disaster declaration from President Joe Biden. The President approved an emergency declaration for the storm on Sunday.
Rain from Fiona caused more widespread flooding across the island than when Hurricane Maria hit in 2017, Puerto Rico officials said at a briefing on Monday.
There are 2,146 people and 254 pets being housed in 113 shelters as of Monday, said the governor. Officials have had up to 2,300 people in shelters in the past, said Pierluisi.
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President Biden tells the people of Puerto Rico "we will get through this together"
From CNN's Maegan Vazquez and Kate Sullivan
President Joe Biden issued a message on Monday to the people of Puerto Rico, which is continuing to deal with catastrophic flooding and heavy rainfall caused by Hurricane Fiona.
The message, relayed via the White House’s Spanish language Twitter account, @LaCasaBlanca, translates to, “A message from President Biden on Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico: Jill and I hold the people of Puerto Rico in our prayers as Hurricane Fiona passes over your beautiful island. We stand with you and we will get through this together.”
Biden approved an emergency declaration in Puerto Rico on Sunday.
