PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio, AP) — Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico's southwest coast on Sunday after causing an island-wide power blackout and threatening to dump "historic" levels of rain.
“It’s time to take action and be concerned,” said Nino Correa, Puerto Rico’s emergency management commissioner.
Does the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States have anything to worry about? NBC 10 meteorologist Steve Sosna said if the storm continues north, it should say stay safely out to sea.
"Luckily, we will not see any direct impacts of Fiona. The worst that we will see is some rip currents and swells as the storm nears Bermuda, mid to late week," Sosna said.
"The cool air that you feel at the end of the week. That's kind of actually the saving grace. That's a cold front that's going to kind of knock Fiona out to sea and keep it away from us.
"But unfortunately, this is a bad situation, with Puerto Rico — the whole island — without power right now and catastrophic rainfall amounts."
The island is still recovering from Category 4 Hurricane Maria in 2017. Fiona may be a Category 1 hurricane, but forecasters are expecting up to 25 inches in some areas, which could cause landslides and catastrophic flooding, Sosna said.
"That is one element of a hurricane. It's not just wind. Everybody thinks wind with hurricanes. The flood element is real," he said.
"And it's a very mountainous terrain in Puerto Rico. So the flash flood situation, when you add elevation, is exponentially worse."
Forecasters said the downpour was expected to produce landslides and catastrophic flooding, with up to 25 inches possible in isolated areas.
Fiona hit about 15 miles south-southeast of Mayaguez with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was moving to the northwest at 9 mph.
The storm's clouds covered the entire island and tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 140 miles from Fiona's center.
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U.S. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in the U.S. territory as the eye of the storm approached the island's southwest corner.
Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution, said bad weather, including winds of 80 mph, had disrupted transmission lines, leading to "a blackout on all the island."
"Current weather conditions are extremely dangerous and are hindering our capacity to evaluate the complete situation," it said, adding that it could take several days to fully restore power.
Health centers were running on generators — and some of those had failed. Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said crews were working to repair generators as soon as possible at the Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Fiona hit just two days before the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a devastating Category 4 storm that struck on Sept. 20, 2017, destroying the island's power grid and causing nearly 3,000 deaths.
More than 3,000 homes still have only a blue tarp as a roof, and infrastructure remains weak.