Miami, Bahamas hunker down
Hurricane Isaias cuts through Bahamas to Florida
Hurricane Isaias ripped shingles off roofs and blew over trees as it carved through the Bahamas yesterday and headed towards the Florida coast.
Officials in Miami said they were closing beaches, marinas and parks.
Miami mayor Carlos Gimenez said 20 evacuation centres were on standby that could be set up with Covid-19 safety measures.
“We still don’t think there is a need to open shelters for this storm, but they are ready,” he said.
Authorities in North Carolina ordered the evacuation of Ocracoke Island, which was slammed by last year’s Hurricane Dorian. Meanwhile, officials in the Bahamas evacuated people on Abaco island, who have been living in temporary structures since Dorian. People living in the eastern end of Grand Bahama were also being moved.
Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 135 km/h early yesterday and some strengthening was possible later, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. The storm was about 185km south-southeast of Nassau in the Bahamas and was moving northwest at 23km/h.
Paula Miller, Mercy Corps director for the Bahamas, said the islands can normally withstand strong
hurricanes, but some have been destabilised by the coronavirus pandemic and the damage caused by Dorian.
“With everything not quite shored up, property not secured, home not prepared, even a category 1 will be enough to set them back,” she said.
A hurricane warning was in effect for Florida’s east coast from Boca Raton, just north of Miami, about 240km north to the Volusia-Brevard county line. A hurricane watch was
in effect from Hallendale Beach to south of Boca Raton.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis said the state was “fully prepared for this and any future storm during this hurricane season”, with stockpiles of personal protective equipment, generators, bottled water and meals ready to be distributed.
But he urged people to have seven days of food, water and medication on hand and said state-run coronavirus testing sites in the areas
where the storm could hit would be closed.
“Our sites, because they’re outdoors with tents, if it were to get 40-, 50-mile-per-hour winds, it would just collapse,” he said. “Safety is paramount for that.”
Miami’s mayor said socialdistancing measures prompted by Covid-19 meant each person in shelters needed to have 3.7 sq m and no more cafeteria-style dining would be allowed. People who are infected with coronavirus and need to evacuate will be isolated in classrooms to separate them from the general population, Gimenez said.
In Daytona Beach and Polk County, authorities distributed sandbags and other officials advised people to have emergency provisions at home sufficient for three to seven days.
A hurricane warning was in effect for northwest and central Bahamas.
“Continue to hunker down,” said Trevor Basden, director of the Bahamas meteorology department.
Two of those islands, Abaco and Grand Bahama, were battered by Dorian, a category 5 storm that hovered over the area for two days and killed at least 70 people. More than 280 were reported missing. People are still living in tents on both islands, and officials said crews tried to remove leftover debris ahead of Isaias.
Prime Minister Hubert Minnis relaxed a coronavirus lockdown as a result of the storm, but imposed a 10pm to 5am curfew. He said supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations and hardware stores would be open as long as weather permitted.
On Thursday, while still a tropical storm, Isaias toppled trees, destroyed crops and caused widespread flooding and small landslides in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where hundreds of thousands of people were left without power and water.
Officials reported that a man died in the Dominican Republic when he was electrocuted by a fallen cable.