SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Authorities in the Bahamas closed most schools Monday as Tropical Storm Imelda dropped heavy rain in the northern Caribbean, including over Cuba where landslides killed at least one man.
The storm was located about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Great Abaco Island of the Bahamas, which is still recovering from Hurricane Dorian after it slammed into parts of the Bahamas as a devastating Category 5 hurricane in 2019.
Imelda had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and was moving north at 9 mph (15 kph). It was forecast to become a hurricane on Tuesday morning and spin out to open ocean, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for parts the extreme northwestern Bahamas, including Great Abaco, Grand Bahama Island and the surrounding keys. Power outages were reported in some areas, with authorities closing government offices on affected islands and issuing mandatory evacuation orders for some islands over the weekend.
A death and evacuations across Cuba
Imelda was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain across the northwest Bahamas through Tuesday, and 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) across eastern Cuba. State media in Cuba reported that 60-year-old Luis Mario Pérez Coiterio died in Santiago de Cuba following landslides in that area.
“After two days of intense rains in the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, we are now in the stage of saving human lives and the economy of the entire city,” Mayor Indira Oliva Bueno said, according to a broadcast aired by the official Caribe channel.
In the easternmost part of Cuba, from Camagüey to Guantánamo, authorities supplied food and drinking water to residents, according to official TV reports.
Overall, Imelda forced the evacuation of some 1,291 people across Cuba, with 158 of them staying in shelters.
“We are working with our agricultural colleagues to provide food to the population, which is essential,” said Alexander Olivares, president of the San Antonio del Sur Defense Council in Guantánamo.
Humberto roars in open waters
Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto, a Category 4 storm, churned in open waters nearby, which forecasters said would cause Imelda to abruptly turn to the east-northeast, away from the southeastern United States coast.
“This is really what’s going to be saving the United States from really seeing catastrophic rainfall,” said Alex DaSilva, lead hurricane expert for AccuWeather, a private U.S. weather forecasting company.
DaSilva said the two storms would draw closer and start rotating counterclockwise around each other in what's known as the Fujiwhara effect.
“It’s a very rare phenomenon overall in the Atlantic basin,” he said.
Humberto had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph). It was located about 295 miles (475 kilometers) southwest of Bermuda, moving north-northwest at 13 mph (20 kph). A hurricane watch was in effect for Bermuda.
“This is going to be no threat to the United States,” DaSilva said.
The Carolinas brace for Imelda’s rains
However, moisture from Imelda was expected to move up the Carolinas, with heavy rain forecast through Tuesday morning. The heaviest rains will be limited to the coastline, from Charleston in South Carolina to Wilmington in North Carolina, while Charlotte and Raleigh might receive only 1 to 2 inches (3 to 5 centimeters) of rain, he said.
The Carolinas might see wind gusts of 40 mph, but only along the coastline, DaSilva said, as he warned of dangerous surf and heavy rip currents all week.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said authorities were prepositioning search and rescue crews over the weekend.
In North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency even before Imelda formed, while authorities on Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia handed out free sandbags to residents.
Even though Imelda was not making landfall in Florida, its impact was still felt.
At the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, crews found a couple of turtle hatchlings that rough surf had tossed ashore.
“We actually had two washbacks come in over the weekend," said Justin Perrault, the center’s vice president of research. “We may get more as the day goes along.”
He said typically beachgoers will see a hatchling resting in the seaweed and call the center for help.
Further south in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Carl Alexandre exercised at the beach on Monday. He said he was grateful the storm was not heading toward South Florida, but that he would pray for those in the Bahamas.
“It’s great that we’re not having one as of right now,” Alexandre said. “And now we get to run in the Florida sun.”
‘A double whammy for Bermuda’
Authorities in Bermuda hoped neither of the two storms would be a direct hit later in the week, though they were forecast to, at least, come close, with Imelda possibly passing within 15 miles (24 kilometers) as the season's soon-to-be fourth hurricane, Da Silva said.
“It’s going to be a double whammy for Bermuda, Humberto first and Imelda following close behind,” Da Silva said.
Michael Weeks, Bermuda's national security minister, urged residents to prepare, warning that there have been “some near misses this season regarding severe storms."
“Hurricane Humberto is a dangerous storm, and with another system developing to our south, every household in Bermuda should take the necessary steps to be prepared," he said.
Flights to and from the islands in the Bahamas were canceled, with airports expected to reopen after weather conditions improve.
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Associated Press videographers Milexsy Durán in Havana, Cody Jackson in Juno Beach, Daniel Kozin in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and writer Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.