Residents of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico had to face the wrath of nature because of hurricane Fiona hitting those countries in recent days. Most of the unincorporated US territory was left with no electrical power, according to CNN. About 1.4 million people live there, which means almost half of the entire population of Puerto Rico.
The hurricane also caused landfall and heavy rain that led to huge flooding. Winds reaching up to 75 miles per hour swept the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. It’s expected that Fiona could bring up to 12 inches of rainfall to northern and eastern parts of the Dominican Republic and a maximum of 30 inches of rainfall to Puerto Rico.
Anne Bink, the Associate Administrator for Response and Recovery, explained as CNN quotes:
Our heart goes out to the residents that again are going through another catastrophic event five years later,
We were much more prepared. We have four warehouses now strategically located throughout the island, which includes commodities, exponentially larger supplies than in the past,
We’re proactively there – and well ahead of any storm hitting – to make sure that we are coordinating. And all of the planning efforts we undertake during those blue skies days can be brought to bear when the rain falls.
According to the US National Hurricane Center, the Fiona hurricane was centered 75 kilometers southwest of the Punta Cana town from the Dominic Republic. The same source informs that on Sunday night, the maximum sustained winds even reached 85 miles per hour.
One of the biggest fears now is that reconnecting entire Puerto Rico to electrical power would take several days. However, hospitals and other important community services were among the first to be reconnected to electricity.
Only five years ago, the northeastern part of the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, had to face the wrath of the Maria hurricane, which caused the worst natural disaster that ever affected those islands.
