(Sep 19)
Almost all of Puerto Rico still without power as Hurricane Fiona lashes island
https://www.yahoo.com/news/puerto-rico-s...57281.html
INTRO: Hurricane Fiona smashed through Puerto Rico early Monday with pounding rain and winds that triggered mudslides, flooding and a power outage that swept across the entire island. More than 1,000 water rescues were performed and more were underway, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said. Even as the storm made landfall Monday in the Dominican Republic, it continued to slam Puerto Rico with unrelenting rains.
The National Weather Service in San Juan urged residents to move to higher ground "immediately."
"Heavy rainfall and catastrophic flooding continues across much of Puerto Rico," said Richard Pasch, a specialist with the National Hurricane Center.
The Aqueduct and Sewer Authority said almost 800,000 customers were without drinking water service. The entire power grid across the U.S. territory of 3.2 million people went down on Sunday, putting everyone in the dark. Only a small fraction had regained power Monday, and power distribution company LUMA Energy warned that it could take several days to fully restore power because of the magnitude of the outage.
"We have the equipment, tools and resources to respond to this event," the company said.
National Guard and Municipal Emergency Management personnel were helping with evacuations and water rescues in several communities of severely damaged Salinas, Mayor Karilyn Bonilla Colón said. She urged residents to stay in their homes or shelters.
"Lands are saturated, rivers are overgrown, areas are flooded areas, and streets are still impassable streets," she said. "Please stay safe and consider the first responders and rescue personnel who have done a titanic job to save lives."
Up to 30 inches of rain still possible
Parts of the island, still healing from the battering wrought by Hurricane Maria five years ago, could see up to 30 inches of rain before the storm rolls out of the area late Monday, AccuWeather reported... (
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