Satellites are watching as Hurricane Fiona, currently a Category 1 storm, pummels Caribbean islands.
Hurricane Fiona made landfall over Puerto Rico on Sunday (Sept. 18), bringing high winds and heavy rain and taking down the island’s power grid, according to the Washington Post (opens in new tab). Puerto Rico is home to 3.2 million people; the storm comes five years after the island was battered by Hurricane Maria.
Even as rain continues to fall over Puerto Rico, the storm has hit the Dominican Republic, according to CNN (opens in new tab), making landfall early Monday morning (Sept. 19). The eastern side of the Dominican Republic is expected to take a stronger hit from the storm, according (opens in new tab) to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Hurricane Center.
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Next, the storm is expected to strengthen somewhat as it passes over warm ocean water before continuing on to hit the Turks and Caicos on Tuesday (Sept. 20). From there, the storm is predicted to veer to the north-northeast, passing over the ocean until reaching Bermuda early Friday morning (Sept. 23).
Hurricane Fiona is only the sixth tropical storm in the Atlantic to be named during this year’s hurricane season, which began June 1 and will continue through Nov. 30.
In predictions released in May, NOAA officials said they put 70% odds on this year’s season including a total of 14 to 21 named storms, six to 10 of which they expected would be hurricanes.
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