The governor warned it could take days to turn the lights back on.
The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people and knocked out the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered in blue tarpaulins.
The storm stripped pavement from streets, tore off roofs and sent torrents pouring into homes. It also took out a bridge and flooded two airports.
Authorities reported two deaths from the hurricane – a man from Puerto Rico who was swept away by a flooded river and a person in the Dominican Republic who was struck by a falling tree.
The storm was still expected to drop up to 15 inches of rain in some places as it moved away from the US territory of 3.2 million people.
A flooded street is seen during the passage of Hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico on September 18, 2022. JOSE ROTRIGUEZ/AFP via Getty Images
Forecasts called for the storm to develop into a major Category 3 hurricane or greater. It was on a path to pass near the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday and was not expected to threaten the US mainland.
One death in Puerto Rico was linked to the blackout — a 70-year-old man who burned to death after trying to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running, officials said.
Governor Pedro Pierluisi declined to say how long it would take for power to be fully restored, but said it would be “a matter of days” for most customers.
Since the storm began, National Guard troops have rescued more than 900 people, Maj. Gen. Jose Reyes said at a news conference.
Meanwhile, in the Dominican Republic, authorities closed ports and beaches and told most people to stay home from work. Nearly 800 people have been moved to safer locations and more than 700 are in shelters, officials said.
The typhoon left many highways blocked and a tourist pier in the town of Miches was severely damaged by high waves. At least four international airports were closed, officials said.
Dominican President Luis Abider said authorities would need several days to assess the storm’s effects.
Back in Puerto Rico, the National Weather Service office reported flash flooding in south-central parts of the island and tweeted: “MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY!”
Up to 22 inches of rain fell in some parts of Puerto Rico, and forecasters said another 4 to 8 inches could fall as the storm moves away, with even more possible in some areas.
“It’s important for people to understand that this is not over,” said Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist with the weather service in San Juan.
He said flooding had reached “historic levels,” with authorities evacuating or rescuing hundreds of people across Puerto Rico.
“The damage we’re seeing is catastrophic,” Pierluisi said.
Water was cut off to more than 837,000 customers – two-thirds of the total on the island – due to cloudy water in filtration plants or a lack of power, officials said.
The National Hurricane Center said Monday night that “heavy rainfall” from Fiona will continue to fall over Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic overnight. From 5 p.m. eastern time Monday, was centered about 130 miles southeast of Grand Turk Island and was moving northwest at 10 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph.
A man stands among debris on the shore in the wake of Hurricane Fiona in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, September 19, 2022. RICARDO ROJAS / REUTERS
Deanne Criswell, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in a statement to CBS News Sunday night that the agency is “actively supporting” Puerto Rico and “immediately deployed hundreds of FEMA personnel before the storm made landfall.”
“Our focus right now is on rescue efforts and responding to immediate needs such as restoring power,” Criswell said.
A Biden administration official told CBS News on Monday that more than 300 FEMA and federal staff are already in Puerto Rico. This included energy restoration experts from the US Army Corps of Engineers, along with FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams.
More federal responders were expected to arrive in the coming days, the official said. FEMA is working with Puerto Rico’s power distribution company Luma to restore power to the island and has also brought generators.
Luma tweeted Monday night that it had restored power to about 200,000 customers, including a hospital.
On Monday afternoon, President Biden shared a photo of himself on the phone with Pierluigi.
“Today, I spoke with @GovPierluisi to address the immediate needs of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Fiona,” the president said. “We have discussed the federal personnel working to assist the island’s recovery and I have assured the Governor that we will significantly increase support in the coming days.”
Before dawn on Monday, authorities in a boat navigated the flooded streets of the northern coast town of Catano and used a megaphone to alert people that the pumps had collapsed, urging them to evacuate as soon as possible.
Authorities said at least 1,300 people spent the night in shelters across the island.
Brown water poured onto streets and houses and closed airports in Ponce and Mayaguez.
The system also ripped asphalt from roads and washed away a bridge in the central mountain town of Utuado that police said was being put in place by the National Guard after Maria’s Category 4 storm.
Fiona also tore off the roofs of homes, including Nelson Cirino in the northern coastal town of Loiza.
“I was sleeping and saw when the corrugated metal flew,” he said as he watched the rain drench his belongings and the wind whip his colorful curtains in the air.
After roaring over the Dominican Republic, Fiona moved into the open Atlantic, where it was forecast to strengthen, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Fiona earlier lashed the eastern Caribbean, killing a man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floods washed away his home, officials said.
The system hit Puerto Rico on the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which hit the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm.
