By Ivelisse Rivera

HOLYJEANSPuerto Rico, September 21 – Hurricane Fiona strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm on Wednesday as it tracked towards Bermuda after causing destruction in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where the storm left the most people without power and up to eight dead.

After making landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday, Fiona caused devastating flooding and landslides on the island. Over the next two days, the storm gained momentum and tracked toward the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Fiona reached winds of up to 130 miles per hour (215 km per hour) on Wednesday and is expected to strengthen as it moves north towards Bermuda, although a direct impact on the UK mainland is not expected , according to the National Hurricane Center (CNH) the United States. Fiona could reach the Atlantic coast of Canada on Friday.

Eric Blake, Acting Section Chief of the CNH in Miami, said Bermuda would see heavy swells, storm surges, heavy rain and strong winds, even if Fiona maintains its current track and passes west of the island. Bermuda will see the worst of the storm by the end of Thursday, the CNH.

“Hopefully the core of the storm will stay in the west, but it could still move east and hit Bermuda,” Blake said, adding that the US east coast will experience heavy swells and currents. of tearing as the storm moves towards Canada.

“It will be a big problem there,” he told Reuters, referring to Fiona’s journey to the Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

In Puerto Rico, where 40% of the island’s 3.3 million people were still without water and three-quarters without electricity, authorities were trying to determine the extent of the destruction and begin reconstruction.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved a disaster declaration for Puerto Rico, which makes federal funds available to those affected by the storm, the White House said in a statement.

Fiona may have caused at least eight deaths, including that of a sick 4-month-old baby whose mother was struggling to get to hospital due to roadblocks, Dr Maria Conte Miller, director of the Institute of Forensic Sciences. round table. Deaths are under investigation.

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency has so far attributed four deaths to the storm in Puerto Rico. A fifth person died in Guadeloupe earlier this week.

For many Puerto Ricans, the memory of Hurricane Maria in 2017 is still fresh. Some 3,000 people were killed in the Category 5 storm, which left the entire island without power for a week.

An estimated 1.07 million homes and businesses were still without power in Puerto Rico as of midday Wednesday. LUMA Energy, which said fully restoring all 1.5 million customers could take several days.

The Bermuda Weather Service has issued a tropical storm warning for British territory, located 966 km east of North Carolina in the United States. Hurricane-force winds are possible depending on the path of the storm.

Michelle Pitcher, deputy director of the service, said the country is “like a point sticking out of the ocean” without a protective coastline, which means severe flooding is a greater danger.

Still, Pitcher said Bermuda is ready for what Fiona has in store for the island.

“People in Bermuda practice a lot to prepare for storms,” ​​he said. “We build strong houses.”