The U.S. National Hurricane Center on Thursday issued a hurricane warning for Bermuda through Friday as Hurricane Fiona continues moving north.
In its latest forecast, the hurricane center reports Fiona remains a powerful Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers. According to the last report, the storm was 735 km southwest of Bermuda. Its current path and speed would take it just to the west of Bermuda late Thursday.
While Fiona will spare the island a direct hit, the acting chief of the hurricane center in Miami, Eric Blake, told the Reuters news agency that Bermuda will see high surf, storm surges, heavy rainfall and powerful winds by late Thursday.
By late Friday and early Saturday, the storm is likely to pass over Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and western Newfoundland in northeastern Canada, where forecasters say seven to 15 centimeters of rain are expected, with a local maximum of 25 cms.
Fiona cut a deadly path through the tropical islands of Puerto Rico and Turks and Caicos earlier this week. In the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, eight people were killed, and a large portion of the Island remains without water or power after the storm hit the island Sunday and Monday.
Officials say the storm dumped 90 centimeters of rain on the island, causing mudslides and extensive flooding. The island had yet to fully recover from the effects of Hurricane Maria in 2017 that killed thousands.
After Puerto Rico, Fiona struck the Dominican Republic, where two people were reported killed. In British-controlled Turks and Caico, officials reported widespread power outages and damage, but reported no deaths or serious injuries.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
