The eye of the storm passed near Grand Turk, the small island of the British territory’s capital, on Tuesday morning after the government imposed a curfew and urged people to leave flood-prone areas. Hurricane-force winds extended up to 30 miles (45 kilometers) from the center. “Storms are unpredictable,” the region’s premier, Washington Misick, said in a statement from London, where he was attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. “Therefore, you must take every precaution to ensure your safety.” Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving north-northwest at 9 mph (15 kph), according to the Hurricane Center, which said the storm was likely to strengthen further to a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Bermuda on Friday. It was forecast to weaken before making landfall in eastern Canada over the weekend. The major storm continued to dump heavy rain in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where 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 outage – a 70-year-old man burned to death after trying to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running, officials said. Parts of the island had received more than 64cm of rain and more was falling on Tuesday. National Guard Brigadier General Narciso Cruz described the resulting flooding as historic. “There were communities that flooded in the storm that didn’t flood under Maria,” he said, referring to the 2017 hurricane that caused nearly 3,000 deaths. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Cruz said 670 people were rescued in Puerto Rico, including 19 people in a nursing home in the northern mountain town of Cayey that was in danger of collapsing. “Rivers burst their banks and covered communities,” he said. Some people were rescued via kayaks and boats, while others were crammed into the huge shovel of an excavator and carried to higher ground. He regrets that some initially refused to leave their homes, adding that he understands why. “It’s human nature,” he said. “But when they saw that their lives were in danger, they agreed to leave.” The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which knocked out the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered in blue tarps. Authorities said Monday that at least 2,300 people and about 250 pets remained in shelters across the island. Fiona caused a blackout when it hit the southwestern corner of Puerto Rico on Sunday, the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which hit the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm. By Tuesday morning, authorities said they had restored power to more than 285,000 of the island’s 1.47 million customers. Puerto Rico’s governor, Pedro Pierluisi, warned that it could take days before everyone has power. 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 power outage, officials said. In the Dominican Republic, authorities reported one death: a man was struck by a falling tree. The storm displaced more than 12,400 people and cut off at least two communities. 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. Fiona earlier lashed the eastern Caribbean, killing a man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floods washed away his home, officials said.
