Hurricane Fiona has continued to intensify and reached Category 4 strength early Wednesday, just days after devastating Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with feet of rain and catastrophic flooding.
The storm moved on to thrash Turks and Caicos for most of Tuesday, and the National Hurricane Center says the brutal system is expected to strengthen even more in the coming hours. As of NHC's 2 a.m. update, the center of Fiona was about 105 miles north of North Caicos Island and heading toward Bermuda, which it is expected to reach late Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph.
Fiona is expected to continue its northern trajectory for most of Wednesday. A turn toward the north-northeast with an increase in forward speed is expected on Thursday. On the current track, the hurricane will continue to gradually move away from the Turks and Caicos Wednesday, before approaching Bermuda late Thursday.
Hurricane-force and tropical-force winds extend outward up to 45 and 160 miles, respectively, from the center.
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A tropical storm warning is in effect for the southeastern Bahamas. No other hurricane watches or warnings were in effect early Wednesday morning.
Communities there and in Puerto Rico, especially, were inundated with torrential rain and wild winds, amounting to more than 2 feet of water in parts of the U.S. territory as the threat of deadly mudslides loomed. Lago Cerillos, not far from Ponce, where Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico ahead of a second landfall in the Dominican Republic a day later, saw nearly 3 feet of fain. The National Hurricane Center says parts of Puerto Rico could see 35 inches, ultimately.
President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico ahead of the storm, while the governor of Puerto Rico, as the worst of it hit, described "catastrophic" damages as the island plunged into darkness.
Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution, said bad weather, including winds of 80 mph, had disrupted transmission lines, leading to “a blackout on all the island.”
The rain has almost entirely come to an end in Puerto Rico, though there was still the chance for isolated flash floods are in southern parts of the island as of late Tuesday. Heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash floods continued in the Dominican Republic as well, but that too was looking to come to an end. Heavy rains around Fiona's center slammed the Turks and Caicos through Tuesday afternoon with continued life-threatening flooding, and parts of the islands could continue to face rain for several more hours.
Pictures: Hurricane Fiona Floods Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos
Further strengthening is expected and Fiona is expected to become a major hurricane by Wednesday, NHC says. It could reach up to a Category 4 storm at that time, though it will be far west of the Bahamas by then. It could remain a Category 1 hurricane when it makes landfall once again Saturday night — up in Newfoundland, Canada.
As of now, it poses no threat to any part of the mainland U.S., although large swells will bring high surf to tri-state area beaches by the end of the week. People in coastal areas are advised to be wary of rip currents as well.
