Fiona reels in Puerto Rico, with 1.3 million without power

• Fiona made landfall at 3:20 p.m. Sunday with hurricane-force winds.
• Over 1.3 million utility customers remained without power Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us.
• Recovery efforts were slowed by heavy rain that flooded Mercedita International Airport in Ponce.

Heavy rain and catastrophic flooding pounded much of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona made landfall Sunday afternoon, causing an island-wide blackout that lasted until Monday morning, with over 1.3 million customers still without power.

Fiona made landfall with hurricane-force winds at 3:20 p.m. Sunday, destroying at least one bridge, creating sinkholes, and inundating the island with rain.

The devastation and power outage are reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which made landfall five years ago this month and was the deadliest natural disaster on US territory in 100 years.

The National Weather Service in San Juan urged residents to “move to high ground immediately!” due to ongoing flash flooding, which was expected to worsen with the heavy rain.

Showers and gusty winds of 30 to 40 mph are expected to hit the island on Monday, especially in the south, from Guayama to Ponce, according to the weather service.

Also Read

A powerful typhoon batters southern Japan

Typhoon Nanmadol is near the southern island of Yakushima. It is packing...

According to a spokesperson for Luma Energy, the company in charge of power transmission and distribution in Puerto Rico, at least 82,800 customers on the island had their power restored as of Monday morning.

After multiple outages along transmission lines, Luma said Sunday that it could take several days to fully restore power.

According to the government’s PREPS page, over 700,000 residents were without water service as of Monday morning 9 a.m.

Rain slowed recovery efforts, flooding Mercedita International Airport in Ponce with muddy water, causing mudslides in some neighbourhoods and forcing some people to cling to poles in waist-deep water.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Fiona made landfall in the Dominican Republic on Monday morning, 35 miles southeast of Samana, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.

Also Read

Typhoon Nanmadol hits Japan, evacuating millions

Typhoon Nanmadol has brought winds of at least 180 km/h (112 mph)...