Hurricane Fiona Brings Power Outages And Massive Floods To Puerto Rico

Topline

Hurricane Fiona has caused “catastrophic” damage on Puerto Rico, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said Monday, one day after the Category 1 storm knocked out power and sparked landslides and massive floods on the island, which is still reeling from the deadly Hurricane Maria that hit the U.S. territory in 2017.

A man stands near a flooded road during the passage of Hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico, … [+] on September 18, 2022.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

The storm has caused at least one death on Puerto Rico since it made landfall on the island’s south coast Sunday afternoon: An older man died while attempting to operate a generator, according to the New York Times, citing government staff.

Some 1.3 million people were without power Monday afternoon, virtually all of the 1.4 million customers on Puerto Rico tracked by the site poweroutage.us. Electricity has been restored for around 100,000 customers, but it could take several days for power to be restored to most of the island, power company LUMA said.

Some parts of the island have received more than 30 inches of rain, Pierluisi said, which could provoke “life-threatening and catastrophic flooding” as well as mudslides, according to the National Weather Service.

Authorities said they have evacuated hundreds of people in Puerto Rico from their homes since the storm began.

President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Puerto Rico on Sunday, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to organize disaster relief efforts.

What To Watch For

Fiona is now battering the Dominican Republic after making landfall on the island of Hispaniola Monday morning with sustained winds of 90 miles per hour. The storm is expected to strengthen after moving away from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, according to the National Hurricane Center. It is then projected to move near Turks and Caicos Tuesday, before veering into the Atlantic and potentially nearing Bermuda as a major hurricane Thursday or Friday.

Key Background

Puerto Rico’s power grid has been vulnerable since Hurricane Maria in 2017, which made landfall on the island as a Category 4 storm and killed nearly 3,000 people, left many without power for months, decimated neighborhoods and caused an estimated $90 billion in damage. Puerto Rico’s financially stretched government struggled to restore the island’s power grid, which has struggled with funding issues for years, and officials contracted with LUMA in 2020 to take over power transmission and make urgent repairs . The transition to a private operator has resulted in frequent power outages that have led even Pierluisi to criticize the company, though the company has said the island’s old infrastructure, extreme weather and poor maintenance are to blame. Hundreds of Puerto Ricans have protested the deal with LUMA and have demanded the government terminate the contract.

Tangent

Fiona is the first hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. this year, and the first hurricane or tropical storm to make landfall in the country since early July. The Atlantic hurricane season has been uncharacteristically quiet, despite earlier forecasts for an extremely active year.

Big Number

At least 750,000. That’s how many did not have water service as of Monday morning because of electrical disruptions, Puerto Rico’s water management authority, Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, told the Washington Post.