Hurricane Fiona strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday as it headed north toward Bermuda, days after causing "catastrophic" damage in Puerto Rico. The first major hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season has also caused devastating flooding and infrastructure damage in the Dominican Republic, CNN reports. At least five deaths have been caused by the hurricane, including two in Puerto Rico, two in the Dominican Republican, and one on the French island of Guadeloupe. The storm's eye passed close to Grand Turk, capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands, but the British territory reported no deaths and only minimal damage, reports the AP.
The hurricane's center is forecast to pass between 150 and 200 miles west of Bermuda late Thursday and early Friday, but the island is still expected to face tropical storm conditions; American citizens have been urged to reconsider plans to travel to the island. By Wednesday morning, three days after the storm, only 26% of Puerto Rico had power restored. "We want to make it very clear that efforts to restore and reenergize continue and are being affected by severe flooding, impassable roads, downed trees, deteriorating equipment, and downed lines," power company Luma said, per the AP.
The storm is not expected to threaten the mainland US, but residents of Canada's Atlantic provinces have been told to expect strong winds, heavy rain, and possible flooding over the weekend, the CBC reports. The National Hurricane Center is also monitoring Tropical Storm Gaston in the eastern Atlantic, though it is expected to peter out before it becomes a hurricane, and a disturbance a few hundred miles east of the Windward Islands that could become a tropical depression as it moves west across the Caribbean, the Miami Herald reports. (More Hurricane Fiona stories.)
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