Historic rains with incidents of landslides and flooding are also expected in the area. “It's time to take action and be concerned," said Nino Correa, Puerto Rico's emergency management commissioner.
Late on Saturday, the tropical storm was centered 240 km southeast of Ponce, Puerto Rico. It had maximum sustained winds of 95 kph and was moving west-northwest at 13 kph.
The storm is expected to hit the southern coast of Puerto Rico as the nation is still recovering from the devastating earthquake of 2019, with several schools still shut and debris still not removed.
Residents were anxious and they boarded up windows and stocked up on food and water as the arrival of Fiona is just two days before the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a deadly Category 4 storm that hit the coasts on 20 September 2017.
“I think all of us Puerto Ricans who lived through Maria has that post-traumatic stress of, What is going to happen, how long is it going to last and what needs might we face?'" said Danny Hernández, who works in the capital of San Juan but planned to weather the storm with his parents and family in the western town of Mayaguez.
Residents were also concerned about the power cute as Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution, warned of “widespread service interruptions". Puerto Rico's power grid was destroyed by Hurricane Maria and is still in disrepair, with reconstruction only recently beginning. Power outages occur on a daily basis, and fires at power plants have occurred in recent months.
Fiona was predicted to pour 13 to 25 centimeters of rain over eastern and southern Puerto Rico, with as much as 51 centimeters in isolated spots.
Fiona previously pounded the eastern Caribbean, killing one man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floodwaters washed away his home. In addition, the storm damaged roads, uprooted trees, and destroyed at least one bridge.'
With Input from Agencies.
