Hurricane Fiona hit the Turks and Caicos Islands as a powerful Category 3 storm on Tuesday, with heavy rains and flooding in the Caribbean archipelago.
This comes after the hurricane opened a path of destruction through the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
US officials said the storm killed four people in Puerto Rico. A fifth person was killed in Guadeloupe earlier in the week.
US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra declared Puerto Rico a public health emergency, freeing up federal funds and equipment to help the island.
The storm hit Grand Turk, the largest island in the Turks and Caicos on Tuesday morning, before hitting its main cluster of islands several hours later.
Powered by winds of 201 km/h, Fiona was heading north towards Bermuda and is expected to hit as a Category 4 storm on Thursday, according to information from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Canadian officials warned of strong post-tropical conditions hitting Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Price Edward Island through Saturday.
Turks and Caicos Lieutenant Governor Anya Williams said power outages hit five islands, but no deaths have yet been reported.
“Closing the country early is what helped us save lives,” Williams told Reuters. She said her government was communicating with the British Royal Navy and the US Coast Guard, with the British Navy patrol vessel HMS Medway due to arrive Tuesday night to assist with rescue efforts.
Jaquan Harvey, 37, a businessman who lives in Grand Turk, said the wind carried rainwater through the joints in the windows and doors as his house shook.
“It was very loud, like there were giants out there screaming and roaring,” Harvey said. “You could feel the air pressure as everything shook,” he continued.
To the south, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico were stunned by the storm’s intensity and struggled to cope with the aftermath.
Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), arrived in Puerto Rico to assess the damage, FEMA officials said.
Officials said several FEMA teams, including two search and rescue units, were being mobilized and several hundred personnel were already on the island.
Source: CNN Brasil
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