Puerto Rico prepares for worst as Hurricane Dorian roars in
● Winds expected to strengthen even more as it heads towards Florida
Storm Dorian became a Category 1 hurricane yesterday as it struck the US Virgin Islands, with forecasters predicting that its winds will grow even stronger as it nears the US mainland at the weekend.
The British Virgin Islands and the Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra were also in Dorian’s path with landslides, flooding and power outages possible in the US territory, which is facing its first major test of emergency preparedness since the 2017 devastation of Hurricane Maria.
Dorian prompted President Donald Trump to declare a state of emergency on Tuesday night and order federal assistto ance for local authorities. By yesterday evening, Dorian was located over St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. The US National Hurricane Center said it had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph while moving northwest at 13 mph. A Category 1 storm has winds at or over this speed, but the US Hurricane Center said the storm could grow into a dangerous Category 3 (with wind speeds of 111-129 mph) as it pushes northwest towards Florida.
In the US Virgin Islands, which is still struggling to recover from hurricanes Irma and Maria, officials were reporting power outages.
A hurricane tropical storm warning was in effect for Puerto Rico. It’s a forecast that worries many in Puerto Rico because blue tarpaulin still cover some 30,000 homes nearly two years after Hurricane Maria. The island’s 3.2 million inhabitants also depend on an unstable power grid that remains prone to outages since it was destroyed by Maria, a Category 4 hurricane (one with winds between 130 and 156 mph).
Ramonita Torres, a thin, stooped, 74-year-old woman lives by herself in the impoverished, flood-prone neighbourhood of Las Monjas in the capital of San Juan. She was still trying to rebuild the home she nearly lost after Maria but was not able to secure the pieces of zinc that now serve as her roof. “There’s no money for that,” she said, shaking her head.
A reported 23,000 customers were without power across Puerto Rico by early yesterday afternoon, according to Angel Figueroa, the president of a union that represents power workers.
Police said an 80-year-old man in the northern town of Bayamon died on Wednesday after he fell trying to climb up his roof to clear it of debris ahead of the storm.
Mr Trump sent a tweet assuringthat“wearetracking closely tropical storm Dorian as it heads, as usual, to Puerto Rico. FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job.”
He added a jab at Puerto Rican officials who have accused the government of a slow and inadequate response to Hurricane Maria: “When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank You – Not like last time. That includes from the incompetent Mayor of San Juan!”
The mayor, Carmen Yulin Cruz, tweeted that Trump needs to “calm down get out of the way and make way for those of us who are actually doing the work on the ground,” adding in a heavily capitalised tweet that maybe he “will understand this time around THIS IS NOT ABOUT HIM; THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS; THIS IS ABOUT SAVING LIVES.”