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Tag Archives: Bermuda
Hurricane Fiona: As storm passes near Bermuda, Canadians on the Atlantic coast are on guard
CNN
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Deadly Hurricane Fiona has strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it barrels toward Canada’s Atlantic coast, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Officials in Canada’s Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are urging those in the storm’s path to be on high alert and prepare for the impact of the hurricane, which has already claimed the lives of at least five people and shut off power for millions this week as it battered multiple Caribbean islands.
“The Air Force Hurricane Hunters have been investigating the major hurricane and have found that it remains powerful and very large,” the center said in an update Friday morning.
The storm “is projected to be a significant and historical weather event for Nova Scotia,” said John Lohr, the minister responsible for the provincial Emergency Management Office.
“It has the potential to be very dangerous. Impacts are projected to be felt across the province. Every Nova Scotian should be preparing today,” Lohr added during an official update Thursday.
Residents should brace for damaging winds, high waves, coastal storm surge and heavy rainfall that may lead to prolonged power outages, Lohr said. Emergency officials have encouraged people to secure outdoor items, trim trees, charge cell phones and create a 72-hour emergency kit.
The area hasn’t seen a storm this intense for about 50 years, according to Chris Fogarty, manager for Canadian Hurricane Centre.
“Please take it seriously because we are seeing meteorological numbers in our weather maps that are rarely seen here,” Fogarty said.
Utility company Nova Scotia Power activated an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Friday morning that will serve as the central coordination area for outage restoration and response, according to a news release.
The company will also be working closely with the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office.
“We are taking every precaution and will be ready to respond to Hurricane Fiona as safely and efficiently as possible,” Sean Borden, the storm lead coordinator for Nova Scotia Power, said in the release.
“Once Fiona passes by Bermuda, the storm is forecast to impact Nova Scotia by Saturday afternoon. Fiona will become extratropical before impact, but this will do little to hinder the damage that Fiona will cause,” CNN Meteorologist Robert Shackelford explained.
Across Atlantic Canada, winds could be around 100 mph (160 kph) as Fiona makes landfall on Nova Scotia, Shackelford said.
Bermuda, which is under a tropical storm warning, closed schools and government offices Friday, according to Michael Weeks, the island’s minister of national security.
In Canada, hurricane warnings are in place for Nova Scotia from Hubbards to Brule and in Newfoundland from Parson’s Pond to Francois. Prince Edward Island and Isle-de-la-Madeleine are also under warnings.
Prince Edward Island officials are imploring residents to prepare for the worst as the storm looms.
Tanya Mullally, who serves as the province’s head of emergency management, said one of the most pressing concerns with Fiona is the historic storm surge that it’s expected to unleash.
“Storm surge is certainly going to be significant. … Flooding that we have not seen nor can we measure against,” Mullally said Thursday during an update.
She added the northern portion of the island stands to bear the brunt of the storm due to the direction of the winds, which will likely cause property damage and coastal flooding.
All provincial campgrounds, beaches and day-use parks as well as the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park will close Friday at noon, the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office said.
“Safety is our priority as we prepare for significant storm conditions Friday night and Saturday. We are closing provincial park properties for the storm and will reopen when it is safe,” Natural Resources and Renewables Minister Tory Rushton said in a statement announcing the closures.
Earlier this week, Fiona damaged homes and upended critical power and water infrastructure for millions of people across Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos.
Days after Puerto Rico experienced an island-wide blackout as Fiona made landfall Sunday, only 38% of customers had their power restored Thursday, according to power grid operator LUMA Energy.
The mass power outage is happening as much of Puerto Rico endures extreme heat, which caused temperatures to feel as hot as 112 degrees on Thursday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
Daniel Hernández, director of renewable projects at LUMA, explained critical places including hospitals will be prioritized before repairs can begin on an individual level.
“This is a normal process. The important thing is that everyone is calm … we are working to ensure that 100% of customers have service as soon as possible,” Hernández said.
Nearly 360,000 customers were experiencing intermittent water service or no service at all as of Thursday evening, according to the government’s emergency portal system.
As of Wednesday, more than 800 people were housed in dozens of shelters across the island, according to Puerto Rico’s housing secretary, William Rodriguez.
President Joe Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for the US territory, FEMA said. The move allows residents to access grants for temporary housing and home repairs as well as low-interest loans to cover uninsured property losses.
In the Dominican Republic, Fiona affected 8,708 households and destroyed 2,262 homes, according to the nation’s head of emergency operations, Maj. Gen. Juan Méndez García.
He said more than 210,000 homes and businesses were still in the dark Thursday morning, and another 725,246 customers were without running water.
“This was something incredible that we’ve never seen before,” Ramona Santana in Higüey, Dominican Republic, told CNN en Español this week. “We’re in the streets with nothing, no food, no shoes, clothes, just what’s on your back. … We don’t have anything. We have God, and the hope help will come.”
Fiona also menaced parts of the Turks and Caicos Tuesday, and areas of the British territory were still without power earlier this week, namely on Grand Turk, South Caicos, Salt Cay, North Caicos and Middle Caicos, said Anya Williams, acting governor of the islands.
Hurricane Fiona strengthens into Category 4 storm, heads toward Bermuda after pummeling Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands
Hurricane Fiona strengthened into a Category 4 storm Wednesday after devastating Puerto Rico, then lashing the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was forecast to squeeze past Bermuda later this week.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph on Wednesday afternoon and it was centered about 650 miles southwest of Bermuda, heading north at 8 mph.
It was likely to approach Bermuda late Thursday and then Canada’s Atlantic provinces late Friday. The U.S. State Department issued an advisory Tuesday night telling U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel” to Bermuda.
The storm has been blamed for directly causing at least four deaths in its march through the Caribbean, where winds and torrential rain in Puerto Rico left a majority of people on the U.S. territory without power or running water. Hundreds of thousands of people scraped mud out of their homes following what authorities described as “historic” flooding.
NOAA
Power company officials initially said it would take a few days for electricity to be fully restored, but then appeared to backtrack late Tuesday night. As of Wednesday afternoon, three days after Fiona hit the island, roughly 70% of customers lacked electricity, according to government figures.
“Hurricane Fiona has severely impacted electrical infrastructure and generation facilities throughout the island. We want to make it very clear that efforts to restore and reenergize continue and are being affected by severe flooding, impassable roads, downed trees, deteriorating equipment, and downed lines,” said Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution.
Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said, “I continue to hope that by the end of today, a large part of the population will have these services.”
Pierluisi tweeted Wednesday afternoon that the federal government had approved a major disaster declaration request in response to Fiona. Earlier Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had said the request was still under review. President Biden on Sunday approved an emergency declaration for the hurricane.
Deanne Criswell, the head of FEMA, traveled to Puerto Rico on Tuesday as the agency announced it was sending hundreds of additional personnel to boost local response efforts.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also declared a public health emergency on the island and deployed a couple of teams to the island.
The storm killed a man in the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe, another man in Puerto Rico who was swept away by a swollen river and two people in the Dominican Republic: one killed by a falling tree and the other by a falling electric post.
Two additional deaths were reported in Puerto Rico as a result of the blackout: A 70-year-old man burned to death after he tried to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running and a 78-year-old man police say inhaled toxic gases emitted from his generator.
The hum of generators could be heard across the territory as people became increasingly exasperated. Some were still trying to recover from Hurricane Maria, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm five years ago, causing the deaths of an estimated 2,975 people.
Luis Noguera, who was helping clear a landslide in the central mountain town of Cayey, said Maria left him without power for a year. Officials themselves didn’t declare full resumption of service until 11 months after Maria hit.
“We paid an electrician out of our own pocket to connect us,” he recalled, adding that he doesn’t think the government will be of much help again after Fiona.
Long lines were reported at several gas stations across Puerto Rico, and some pulled off a main highway to collect water from a stream.
“We thought we had a bad experience with Maria, but this was worse,” said Gerardo Rodríguez, who lives in the southern coastal town of Salinas.
Parts of the island had received more than 25 inches of rain and more had fallen on Tuesday.
By late Tuesday, authorities said they had restored power to nearly 380,000 of the island’s 1.47 million customers. Piped water service was initially knocked out for most of the island’s users due to lack of power and turbid water at filtration plants, but 55% had service Wednesday morning.
On Wednesday, the National Weather Service in San Juan issued a heat advisory for several cities because a majority of people on the island of 3.2 million remain without power.
Jose Jimenez / Getty Images
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday he would push for the federal government to cover 100% of disaster response costs — instead of the usual 75% — as part of an emergency disaster declaration.
“We need to make sure this time, Puerto Rico has absolutely everything it needs, as soon as possible, for as long as they need it,” he said.
Many Americans hadn’t heard from family members who didn’t have electricity.
Palm Beach County, Florida, resident Nancy Valentin told CBS News, “I haven’t been able to talk to my mom and see how she’s doing.”
At Boston’s Logan Airport, those arriving from Puerto Rico recounted their fear of drowning in Fiona’s floodwaters.
Yolanda Rivera told CBS News, “We stayed in one room in a little corner that was safe, for a whole night no light or nothing. The place was so dark.”
In the Turks and Caicos Islands, officials reported minimal damage and no deaths despite the storm’s eye passing close to Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, on Tuesday morning.
The government had imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas.
“Turks and Caicos had a phenomenal experience over the past 24 hours,” said Deputy Gov. Anya Williams. “It certainly came with its share of challenges.”
Hurricane Fiona reaches Category 4 as it moves north, leaving disaster-stricken areas on slow road to recovery
CNN
—
With Category 4 Hurricane Fiona poised to sideswipe Bermuda later this week, people in the storm’s deadly wake still faced days without basic utilities Wednesday – including much of Puerto Rico, where most were left without power and running water.
Only about 380,000 of Puerto Rico’s 1.5 million utility customers had power by Wednesday morning, the government said. And about half of the island’s customers still were without running water, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said.
Water is the top concern for residents like Carlos Vega, whose town of Cayey in the mountains of east-central Puerto Rico faced not only utility outages but also partially collapsed roads – an effect of the major flooding and more than 2 feet of rain that parts of Puerto Rico were hit with.
“(Being without) power … we can face that and we can deal with that. The biggest concern is with our water. Can’t live without water,” Vega told CNN on Tuesday.
Fiona killed at least five people in the Caribbean as it tore through the region last weekend and into this week, including one in Guadeloupe, two in Puerto Rico, and two in the Dominican Republic.
Fiona also whipped parts of the Turks and Caicos islands on Tuesday with sustained winds of almost 125 mph, officials said. That left many areas without power, including on Grand Turk, South Caicos, Salt Cay, North Caicos and Middle Caicos, said Anya Williams, the deputy governor of the islands.
No deaths or serious injuries had been reported in Turks and Caicos as of Tuesday evening, Williams said.
Fiona’s flooding especially left critical infrastructure damage in Puerto Rico and then the Dominican Republic, which the storm crossed Monday. Nearly 2 million utility customers in the Dominican Republic were without water service as of Tuesday, according to Maj. Gen. Juan Méndez García, director of the country’s emergency operations center.
The power outages come as Puerto Rico faces stifling heat. Heat indices – what the air feels like when combining temperature and humidity – of 105 to 109 degrees are expected Wednesday in north-central, northwestern and western portions of the island, the National Weather Service said.
The landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday came nearly five years after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, leaving thousands dead and cutting power to and water service to more than 1 million people for what would become months.
Fiona, after its center passed the Turks and Caicos as a Category 3 storm, strengthened to Category 4 – sustained winds of at least 130 mph – early Wednesday over the Atlantic.
Around 11 a.m. Wednesday, it was centered about 675 miles southwest of Bermuda, heading north with sustained winds of 130 mph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
Fiona is expected to approach Bermuda late Thursday, potentially still as a Category 4 storm, forecasters said.
Fiona’s powerful center is currently expected to pass west of Bermuda, sparing the British island territory its worst winds. But sustained winds of at least tropical-storm force – 39 to 73 mph – are expected to reach Bermuda by late Thursday or early Friday, the center said.
The US State Department issued a travel advisory Tuesday urging US citizens to reconsider travel to Bermuda due to the storm’s potential impact. The department also authorized family members of US government personnel to leave the island in anticipation of the storm.
Though the storm isn’t expected to track near the US East Coast, it could generate onshore waves of 8 to 10 feet there over the weekend, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said Wednesday.
“It’s not a good weekend to go to the shore and get in the water – it’s time to stay out of the water,” Myers said of the East Coast.
Fiona is expected to affect portions of Atlantic Canada as a powerful hurricane-force cyclone late Friday and Saturday. High winds, storm surge, and heavy rainfall could produce significant impacts there.
The storm has strengthened over the past few days – it made landfall in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic as a Category 1 hurricane before battering both with outer bands as it moved over water and toward the Turks and Caicos as a storm in Categories 2 and 3.
Many in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico still are grappling with Fiona’s aftermath and will likely face a prolonged relief and recovery process.
In Nizao, a small city in southern Dominican Republic, a woman tearfully told CNN affiliate Noticias SIN that Fiona’s winds destroyed her home.
“Thank God my girls (are) safe. I managed to cover them with something and block them with a washing machine,” she told Noticias SIN this week.
Another woman in Nizao who was clearing mud from belongings told Noticias SIN that she was frustrated because flooding frequently damages the region. This week, she left all belongings behind when floodwater encroached, she said.
“We can’t take it any longer. Every year we lose our bed, clothes, food, everything,” the second woman told Noticias SIN.
More than 600 homes in the Dominican Republic have been destroyed and 12 communities cut off from aid due to the storm, said García, the nation’s emergency operations center director. At least 23 roads and 18 bridges suffered damage, he said.
In Puerto Rico, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi expects “a large portion of the population” will have power restored by late Wednesday, with the exception of the island’s southern region, which has suffered the most severe damage, he said Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Pierluisi will take an aerial tour of the island with Criswell, the FEMA administrator, he said. Criswell arrived on Tuesday to determine what additional federal help is needed, and that day surveyed damage with the governor in the city of Patillas.
“The community there … (had) severely impacted roads, and bridges were damaged. Water was flooding the streets, and … other parts of the community (were) inaccessible,” Criswell said during a news conference Wednesday.
“But I also saw a resilient Puerto Rico,” she said. “I met with a woman named Anna, who opened up her own home in her own driveway to help create a path for the community. With the bridge that was washed away, her home became that pathway to help give food and water to the rest of her community.”
The storm is a catastrophic blow to Puerto Rico, which was still recovering in some areas from when Hurricane Maria ripped through the island in 2017, inflicting widespread infrastructure damage and destroying homes.
The damage caused by Fiona is “devastating” and “catastrophic” in the island’s center, south and southeast regions, Pierluisi said Tuesday.
Across Puerto Rico, more than 1,200 people were housed in dozens of shelters on Tuesday, the governor said. About 200 families were stranded in the Barros sector of the island because a bridge had been destroyed, according to the governor.
Emergency crews are struggling against mudslides and flood conditions, which were blocking access to parts of the power grid as well as highly impacted and remote areas that need supplies, a CNN crew there reported.
Hurricane Fiona blasts Turks and Caicos Islands, begins moving towards Bermuda
Hurricane Fiona drenched the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday as a Category 3 storm after devastating Puerto Rico, where most people remained without electricity or running water and rescuers used heavy equipment to lift survivors to safety. The storm’s eye passed close to Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, after the government imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas.
By late Tuesday night, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), the storm was centered about 95 miles north of North Caicos Island, with hurricane-force winds extending up to 45 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extending up to 160 miles. The storm was moving in a north direction at about 8 mph.
Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/Tribune News Service/Getty Images
Fiona was expected to approach Bermuda late Thursday, the NHC said, and is expected to strengthen over the next few days. The U.S. State Department issued an advisory Tuesday night telling U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel” to Bermuda.
While the storm was still lashing the archipelago late Tuesday, officials reported only a handful of downed trees and electric posts and no deaths. However, they noted that telecommunications on Grand Turk were severely affected.
“Fiona definitely has battled us over the last few hours, and we’re not out of the thick of it yet,” said Akierra Missick, minister of physical planning and infrastructure development.
Turks and Caicos could still see another 1 to 3 inches of rain from Fiona, while the Dominican Republic could see another 1 to 2 inches, the NHC forecasted, bringing the potential for even more flooding. In total, parts of Puerto Rico could receive as much as 35 inches of rain from the storm, while some portions of the Dominican Republic could see 20 inches.
“Storms are unpredictable,” Turks and Caicos Premier Washington Misick said in a statement from London, where he had been attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. “You must therefore take every precaution to ensure your safety.”
ERIKA SANTELICES/afp/AFP/Getty Images
Fiona was forecast to weaken before running into easternmost Canada over the weekend. It was not expected to threaten the U.S. mainland.
Fiona triggered a blackout when it hit Puerto Rico’s southwest corner on Sunday, the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm.
By Tuesday morning, authorities said they had restored power to nearly 300,000 of the island’s 1.47 million customers. Power was also restored to San Jorge Children and Women’s Hospital in San Juan Tuesday afternoon, Puerto Rico power distribution company Luma reported.
Puerto Rico’s governor warned it could take days before everyone has electricity.
Water service was cut to more than 760,000 customers — two-thirds of the total on the island — because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, officials said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted late Tuesday night that 1.2 million people in Puerto Rico were still without power, and 27% of the island was without water service. Hochul also added that 1,301 people were in temporary shelters.
She said that New York State Police troopers were set to deploy to the region to assist in the recovery efforts.
The storm was responsible for at least two deaths in Puerto Rico. A 58-year-old man died after police said he was swept away by a river in the central mountain town of Comerio. Another death was linked to a power blackout — a 70-year-old man was burned to death after he tried to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running, officials said.
In the Dominican Republic, authorities also reported two deaths: a 68-year-old man hit by a falling tree and an 18-year-old girl who was struck by a falling electrical post while riding a motorcycle. The storm forced more than 1,550 people to seek safety in government shelters and left more than 406,500 homes without power.
The hurricane left several highways blocked, and a tourist pier in the town of Miches was badly damaged by high waves. At least four international airports were closed, officials said.
The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, said authorities would need several days to assess the storm’s effects.
In the central Puerto Rico mountain town of Cayey, where the Plato River burst its banks and the brown torrent of water consumed cars and homes, overturned dressers, beds and large refrigerators lay strewn in people’s yards Tuesday.
“Puerto Rico is not prepared for this, or for anything,” said Mariangy Hernández, a 48-year-old housewife, who said she doubted the government would help her community of some 300 in the long term, despite ongoing efforts to clear the streets and restore power. “This is only for a couple of days and later they forget about us.”
She and her husband were stuck in line waiting for the National Guard to clear a landslide in their hilly neighborhood.
“Is it open? Is it open?” one driver asked, worried that the road might have been completely closed.
Other drivers asked the National Guard if they could swing by their homes to help cut trees or clear clumps of mud and debris.
Michelle Carlo, a medical adviser for Direct Relief in Puerto Rico, told CBS News on Tuesday that conditions on the island were “eerily similar” to 2017, when Hurricane Maria caused nearly 3,000 deaths.
“Despite Fiona being categorized as only a Category 1 hurricane, the water damage in Puerto Rico has been in some places as bad or even worse than when Maria hit us five years ago,” Carlo said.
Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps.
National Guard Brig. Gen. Narciso Cruz described the resulting flooding as historic.
“There were communities that flooded in the storm that didn’t flood under Maria,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Cruz said that 670 people have been rescued in Puerto Rico, including 19 people at a retirement home in the north mountain town of Cayey that was in danger of collapsing.
“The rivers broke their banks and blanketed communities,” he said.
Some were rescued via kayaks and boats while others nestled into the massive shovel of a digger and were lifted to higher ground.
He lamented that some people refused to leave their home, adding that he understood them.
“It’s human nature,” he said. “But when they saw their lives were in danger, they agreed to leave.”
Reuters/Ricardo Arduengo
Jeannette Soto, a 34-year-old manicurist, worried it would take a long time for crews to restore power because a landslide swept away the neighborhood’s main light post.
“It’s the first time this happens,” she said of the landslides. “We didn’t think the magnitude of the rain was going to be so great.”
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi requested a major disaster declaration on Tuesday and said it would be at least a week before authorities have an estimate of the damage that Fiona caused.
He said the damage caused by the rain was “catastrophic,” especially in the island’s central, south and southeast regions.
“The impact caused by the hurricane has been devastating for many people,” he said.
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency traveled to Puerto Rico on Tuesday as the agency announced it was sending hundreds of additional personnel to boost local response efforts.
On Tuesday evening, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared a public health emergency for Puerto Rico. This comes after President Biden issued an emergency declaration Monday.
HHS has deployed 25 personnel to the island so far, the agency said in a news release.
“We will do all we can to assist officials in Puerto Rico with responding to the impacts of Hurricane Fiona,” Becerra said in a statement. “We are working closely with territory health authorities and our federal partners and stand ready to provide additional public health and medical support.”
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday he would push for the federal government to cover 100% of disaster response costs — instead of the usual 75% — as part of an emergency disaster declaration.
“We need to make sure this time, Puerto Rico has absolutely everything it needs, as soon as possible, for as long as they need it,” he said.
Hurricane Fiona slams Turks and Caicos as Category 3 storm, heads for Bermuda
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Hurricane Fiona slammed into the Turks and Caicos Islands as a powerful Category 3 storm on Tuesday, dumping heavy rains and triggering floods on the Caribbean archipelago after cutting a path of destruction through the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
U.S. officials said the storm had claimed four lives in Puerto Rico. A fifth person was killed in Guadeloupe earlier in the week.
U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra declared a public health emergency for Puerto Rico on Tuesday night, freeing up federal funds and equipment to assist the island.
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The storm slammed Grand Turk, the Turks and Caicos’s biggest island on Tuesday morning, before hitting its main cluster of islands several hours later.
Strengthening with wind speeds of 125 mph (201 kmh), Fiona was heading north towards Bermuda on Tuesday night and was expected to strike as a Category 4 storm on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Canadian officials warned of powerful post-tropical conditions hitting Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Price Edward Island by Saturday.
Turks and Caicos Deputy Governor Anya Williams said power outages had hit five islands but no deaths had yet been reported.
“Shutting the country down early is what helped us save lives,” Williams told Reuters. She said her government was communicating with the British Royal Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, with the British Navy patrol vessel HMS Medway expected to arrive on Tuesday night to help with rescue efforts.
Jaquan Harvey, 37, a businessman who lives on Grand Turk, said wind drove rain water through the seams of the windows and doors as his house shook.
“It was very loud, like there were giants outside shouting and roaring,” Harvey said. “You could feel the pressure of the air as everything rattled.”
To the south, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico were stunned by the storm’s intensity and were struggling to cope with the aftermath.
Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), arrived in Puerto Rico – a U.S. territory – on Tuesday to assess the damage, agency officials said.
Officials said multiple FEMA teams, including two search and rescue units, were being deployed and several hundred FEMA personnel were already on the island.
PAINFUL ANNIVERSARY
Aerial view of the river Soco in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona, in El Seibo, Dominican Republic, September 20, 2022. REUTERS/Jesus Frias
Hurricane Fiona was a painful reminder of Puerto Rico’s vulnerability. Tuesday marked the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm which killed about 3,000 people and destroyed its power grid.
Thousands of Puerto Ricans still live under tarpaulin roofs.
Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon, dumping up to 30 inches (76.2 cm) of rain in some areas and triggering catastrophic flooding.
Nearly 80% of Puerto Rico remained without power on Tuesday, according to Poweroutage.us. Officials said it would take days to reconnect the whole island of 3.3 million people.
“It knocked down many trees, there are downed poles and here in the house we got water where it had never happened before,” said Asbertly Vargas, a 40-year-old mechanic in Yauco, a town along the island’s southern coast.
Puerto Rico power provider LUMA Energy said it had restored electricity to 100,000 customers but that it would take days for full restoration.
On the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory with a population of about 40,000 about 700 miles (1,125 km) southeast of Florida, the government told residents to shelter in place until further notice, and ordered businesses to close.
Foreign governments issued travel alerts for the islands, a popular tourist destination.
Similar preparations were under way in the eastern Bahamas, which the storm could skirt on Wednesday.
It could mushroom into a Category 4 storm in coming days, reaching Canada’s Atlantic coast by late Friday, the NHC said.
Hurricanes are deemed “major” by the NHC once they reach Category 3 status, which is wind speeds of between 111mph and 129mph (178kmh-208kmh). A Category 4 storm has “catastrophic” wind speeds of between 130mph and 156mph. The most powerful Category 5 hurricane has wind speeds exceeding 157mph.
In the Dominican Republic, severe flooding limited road access to villages, forced 12,500 people from their homes and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people.
Fiona was the first hurricane to score a direct hit on the Dominican Republic since Jeanne left severe damage in the east of the country in 2004.
As of Monday night, the country’s emergency center counted more than 1.1 million people without drinking water and more than 700,000 without electricity.
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Reporting by Ivelisse Rivera, Ezequiel Abiu Lopez and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Tim Reid and Brad Brooks; Writing by Tyler Clifford; Editing by Richard Chang and Stephen Coates
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Bermuda, Britain’s oldest overseas territory, watches queen’s funeral
“We feel an affinity toward her,” said Alan Brooks, 67, a retail manager in Bermuda who served in the Royal Navy. “Whenever there have been any special occasions in her life that we felt we needed to mark, we’ve marked them. … And sadly, we’re now marking the last event in her life.”
Those gathered at the theater watched in mostly pin-drop silence. Some sang, softly, or hummed the hymns. Everyone stood for “God Save the King.”
Bermuda’s governor declared Monday a public holiday here, and many of the bars, banks, restaurants and shops on the trendy, pastel-hued waterfront promenade Front Street were closed.
Governor Rena Lalgie and Premier David Burt were in London for the funeral. Tanya Davis, Lalgie’s private secretary, said officials anticipated that most Bermudians would watch the funeral at home. They were planning a service at the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity on Sept. 24.
But not everyone was watching the funeral. Some were apathetic or uninterested. At one open pub in Hamilton, the funeral was on the televisions, but the one couple dining there early Monday afternoon was paying it little attention.
Dylan Wilson, 25, said he caught snippets of the funeral procession on television. Wilson, who works in digital marketing, said he hasn’t given the British royal family or the queen much thought, but was happy to have a day off.
Kris Smith felt otherwise. The 25-year-old project manager did not watch the funeral, opting to spend his morning working out and planning his week instead. He said he’d take his dog for a walk in the afternoon.
“I am very upset with the holiday,” Smith said. “Lots to do and everything’s closed.”
Elizabeth came to Bermuda several times. Her first visit was with Prince Philip in 1953, during her six-month tour of the Commonwealth after her coronation.
Kim Day, the president of the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society’s executive committee, has fond memories of a visit in 1994, when the queen had a little conversation with local Cub Scouts. Her son was one of them.
“I was about two feet away from her,” Day recalled. “It was back in the time before cellphones, so nobody took a real close picture, which is a real shame.”
The Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society, an amateur theater set up in 1945, planned the funeral screening late last week. Jennifer Campbell, a Canadian who has lived in Bermuda since 2001, said some of its members are like her: expats from Commonwealth realms, countries where the British monarch is head of state.
She said she was “in awe” of Elizabeth.
“She made a vow to serve her entire life when she became queen and she did it,” said Campbell, who was dressed in a shirt with a sequined Union Jack flag. “She never, ever floundered. Her commitment was to the monarchy, and she never swayed from that. … I know a lot of people have different feelings about the monarchy itself.”
Including in Bermuda. Burt said last week that Elizabeth’s “life and the constancy of her service meant that whether we warmed to the idea of monarchy or not, ‘The Queen’ was the single most immovable feature on the world stage.”
Bermuda has a crown-appointed governor, who represents the British monarch, and a parliament of elected lawmakers. As in other overseas territories, Britain is responsible for defense, security and foreign policy.
The islands were named after Juan de Bermúdez, the Spanish navigator who discovered them, uninhabited, in 1505. A century later, Sir George Somers, a British admiral, was sailing the merchant ship Sea Venture to Jamestown with a group of colonists when they were caught in a treacherous storm and shipwrecked here. (The wreck is believed to have inspired Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”)
In 1612, King James issued a charter to the investors of the Virginia Company of London that extended the boundary of their colony to Bermuda. Several dozen British colonists arrived and established a settlement in St. George, one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere.
The crown took over administration of the colony in 1684. Not long after settlement, colonists brought enslaved people to Bermuda, many of them transported through the Middle Passage from Africa. Slavery was abolished here in the 19th century, but Black people continued to be subjected to segregation for more than a century afterward.
Talk of independence here has long ebbed and flowed. In a 1995 referendum, about 73 percent of voters rejected a break with the crown.
Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda described independence as a “natural progression” for a modern democracy, but “the death of the monarch should not in itself be a trigger for Bermudians to pursue independence.”
“We have been settled since 1612, we have our own constitution, laws, traditions, currency and culture, and frankly it is very difficult to see how being a colony or overseas territory benefits Bermuda in any tangible way,” the group told the Royal Gazette newspaper.
Sandy Amott, 64, was born and raised in Bermuda to parents from England. She admired the queen for her seven decades of service and was emotional when she learned of her death.
“In a way, I’m very sorry to be here today,” said Amott, a secretary. “I just thought that she would live forever, and I’m very sad. But rest in peace, Elizabeth, and long live the king.”
Bermuda confirms first case of monkeypox – The Royal Gazette
Updated: Jul 21, 2022 07:58 PM
A World Health Organisation image of the monkeypox virus
Bermuda’s first confirmed case of monkeypox was revealed this evening by health officials, with an unidentified patient said to be in isolation.
The Ministry of Health is investigating potential close contacts and will notify anyone who may have been exposed, a spokeswoman said.
The virus, which causes flu-like illness and a rash, has spread in a string of communities outside Africa since a cluster of infections was identified in Britain in early May
The ministry indicated in May that the island was on the alert for cases of the virus.
Jason Hayward, the acting health minister, said today: “Monkeypox is rare, not life-threatening and Bermuda is well prepared to detect the disease and take suitable public health measures to prevent its spread.
“The Ministry of Health has provided guidance for primary care providers and the Bermuda Molecular Diagnostics and Research Laboratory lab on sample handling.
“The hospital also has appropriate isolation facilities to support treatment.”
Mr Hayward added that the ministry was working with the Caribbean Public Health Agency, the Pan American Health Organisation and the UK Health Security Agency.
“Our port health officials know how to screen and recognise possible cases and take appropriate action,” he said.
“Our healthcare professionals know how to identify, immediately isolate and report cases to local and regional health authorities.”
Monkeypox may take between five and 21 days for first symptoms to appear.
Usually, the virus causes flu-like symptoms: fever, chills, rash and lesions on the face or genitals.
Most people recover within several weeks without requiring hospital treatment.
Anyone suspecting they have caught or been exposed to the virus must call their doctor or the communicable disease clinic on 278-6442.
· For further information on monkeypox, click on the PDF under “Related Media”.
Tropical Storm Alex heads toward Bermuda with high winds
Tropical Storm Alex, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was headed toward Bermuda on Sunday after dumping rain on parts of Florida, flooding some roads.
Alex reached tropical storm force after strengthening off Florida’s east coast early Sunday.
National Hurricane Center forecasters said at 8 a.m. (1200 GMT) that Alex had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph) and was centered about 635 miles (1,020 kilometers) west-southwest of Bermuda.
It was moving to the northeast at 22 mph (35 kph) and was expected to pass near or just north of Bermuda on Monday and a tropical storm warning was in effect there.
Parts of South Florida experienced road flooding from heavy rain and wind Saturday. Officials in Miami warned drivers about road conditions as many cars were stuck on flooded streets.
“This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Traveling during these conditions is not recommended. It’s better to wait. Turn around, don’t drown,” the city of Miami tweeted.
The city was towing stranded vehicles from flooded roadways.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said the storm tested the system of drainage pumps the city recently installed as climate change has increasingly made flooding an issue in the low-lying area.
“We moved the water off pretty quickly, but in some areas, obviously, it was really challenging,” Gelber said. “There were some problems getting through on some streets, one of the main arteries was unpassable, but by and large water is dissipating.”
Alex partially emerged from the remnants of Hurricane Agatha, which slammed into Mexico’s Pacific Coast last week, killing at least nine people and leaving five missing.
In Cuba, the storm killed three people, damaged dozens of homes in Havana and cut off electricity in some areas, according to authorities. Heavy rainfall continued Saturday, but was diminishing as the weather system moved away from the island.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially began Tuesday. This is an unusually early start to the storm season but not unprecedented for Florida.
The National Hurricane Center predicted rainfall up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) was possible in South Florida, including the Florida Keys.
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This story corrects that the storm formed over the Atlantic, not Gulf of Mexico, and also fixes lowered official death toll in Mexico to nine.
Bermuda becomes smallest country to win Olympic gold after Flora Duffy’s triathlon triumph
But in the early hours of Tuesday morning, a small Atlantic island added its name to the list of medal winners, as Bermuda punched above its weight to become the smallest country to win gold.
Bermuda’s Flora Duffy decisively won the triathlon, securing a historic gold for her country with a population of around 63,000 — compared to the US’s 328 million.
Overcome with emotion as the enormity of her achievement sunk in — Tokyo 2020 is her fourth Olympics — Duffy collapsed to the ground with her hands over her face.
“I really just hope it inspires the youth of Bermuda that we’re from a small country — but that doesn’t mean we can’t do great things on the world stage,” Duffy told CNN’s Coy Wire.
Duffy had felt the hopes of her small nation resting on her shoulders, adding, “coming into Tokyo I definitely knew there was was a lot of expectation to win a medal. We don’t exactly have people going to every Olympics with medal chances.”
She didn’t disappoint, taking first place more than a minute ahead of Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown and the US’s Katie Zaferes.
Both women are friends of Duffy’s who “race together all the time on the circuit,” said the 33-year-old Bermudian. Standing on the podium with her friends after her win was “super special,” Duffy said, adding that “I kind of realized … that dreams come true.”
Duffy’s gold medal is the light at the end of a dark tunnel, having battled a near career-ending injury, anaemia and depression. Her preparations for Tokyo 2020 were hampered by a foot injury that prevented her from competing for a year.
Duffy’s win was “the culmination of all the hard work that took to get to this point, all the hardship, all of the injuries. The postponement, the extra year … it all came together,” she said, referring to Tokyo 2020 being delayed by a year.
Duffy didn’t finish her race at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing after crashing her bike, and even quit the sport for a short time. She later secured a degree in sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder.
More than a decade later, Duffy powered ahead of her competitors in Tokyo.
“With about 800 meters to go, it slowly started to sink in,” she said of her win. “I’ve looked at photos of me along the finishing chute and it was a crazy array of emotions. Definitely a lot of tears,” Duffy said.
It’s not the first time Duffy has scored gold for her country, also winning at the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Australia’s Gold Coast. That same year she was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Prince Charles.
There will no doubt be celebrations back home in Bermuda. This is only the second time the country has won an Olympic medal, after boxer Clarence Hill took bronze in 1976.