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   From: democratic@shitholes.com   
      
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   An intensifying Hurricane Fiona is bringing heavy rains, high   
   winds and power outages to Puerto Rico. The power has been   
   knocked out to the entire island.   
      
   The latest: The center of Fiona was heading for the eastern   
   Dominican Republic on Sunday evening, but heavy rainfall and   
   "catastrophic" flooding continued to pummel much Of Puerto Rico,   
   according to a National Hurricane Center tweet.   
      
   The big picture: The storm is dumping more than two feet of rain   
   in Puerto Rico, "causing catastrophic" flooding, the National   
   Hurricane Center warns. Hurricane-force winds have taken out the   
   island's fragile power grid.   
      
   Fiona made landfall near Punta Tocon, on the island's   
   southeastern coast, around 3:20 p.m. local time with maximum   
   sustained winds of 85 mph, per an NHC tweet.   
   The storm has seen winds increase by 15 mph since the NHC   
   updated on then-Tropical Storm Fiona at 8 a.m. ET.   
   Zoom in: Fiona is a Category 1 hurricane and is expected to   
   remain so through landfall in Puerto Rico.   
      
   Ponce, on the southern side of the island, has seen sustained   
   winds of 69 mph with a maximum wind gust of 103 mph, per the   
   Hurricane Center.   
   President Biden has declared a federal disaster for Puerto Rico,   
   mobilizing the delivery of aid to the island.   
      
   Data: National Hurricane Center; Map: Jared Whalen/Axios   
   Threat level: The storm was likely to bring torrential rains to   
   Puerto Rico through Monday, with a widespread area of 12 to 18   
   inches of rain expected. Higher amounts will fall in some   
   locations, particularly in higher elevations, where up to 30   
   inches could fall in a short period of time.   
      
   "These rains will produce life-threatening and catastrophic   
   flash flooding and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and the   
   eastern Dominican Republic, along with mudslides and landslides   
   in areas of higher terrain," the Hurricane Center warned as of 2   
   p.m. Sunday.   
   Nearly the entire island was under a flash flood warning as of   
   5:00 p.m. ET.   
   Meanwhile, heavy rains and hurricane-force winds were expected   
   in eastern areas of the Dominican Republic on Sunday night and   
   Monday.   
      
   Puerto Rico's power grid, which was severely damaged during   
   Hurricane Maria in 2017, has faltered, with nearly 1.5 million   
   customers without power as of 7 p.m. ET, according to   
   Poweroutage.us.   
      
   What they're saying: "The damages that we are seeing are   
   catastrophic," Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said.   
      
   What we're watching: The test for utility operators now will be   
   how quickly they can restore power once the storm passes.   
      
   Of note: NOAA scientists managed to sail a remotely operated   
   "Sail Drone" into the eye of Hurricane Fiona, which helped   
   validate their intensity estimate.   
      
   Storm surge flooding of 1 to 3 feet above normally dry land is   
   expected along the south shore of Puerto Rico on Saturday,   
   provided the peak surge hits at high tide.   
   The NWS in San Juan was issuing flash flood warnings throughout   
   Sunday as the rains cause rivers and streams to rise. Video from   
   social media shows torrents of water washing away bridges, power   
   lines and other infrastructure in southwestern Puerto Rico.   
      
   The storm previously caused damaging flooding after dumping   
   nearly 20 inches of rain on the French island of Guadeloupe late   
   last week.   
   What's next: Fiona is expected to continue to intensify once it   
   moves northwest of Puerto Rico and north of the Dominican   
   Republic. The storm is expected to turn slowly to the north by   
   midweek as it moves near or over the Turks and Caicos Islands.   
      
   It's expected that the storm will become the season's first   
   "major" Atlantic hurricane of the season, at Category 3   
   intensity or greater by midweek.   
   Most computer models now take the storm out to sea well east of   
   the mainland U.S., but it could be a threat to Bermuda late in   
   the week.   
      
   https://www.axios.com/2022/09/18/hurricane-fiona-flooding-power-   
   grid-puerto-rico   
      
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