Fiona, which
started as a tropical storm, has strengthened into a hurricane on Sunday as it
bore down on Puerto Rico. On Sunday morning, Fiona was centred 80 kilometres
south of Ponce, Puerto Rico and was moving west ward. It had maximum sustained
winds of 130 kilometres per hour.

Nearly half
a million people in Puerto Rico are without power. Several health institutions
have also lost electricity, including Puerto Rico’s largest public hospital. Some
of them are running on generators. Puerto Rico Health Secretary Carlos Mellado
said crews were working on repairing generators.

Puerto Rico
is witnessing “historic” levels of rain and forecasters have warned of landslides
and heavy flooding, up to 64 centimetres in isolated areas. “It’s time to take
action and be concerned,” said Nino Correa, Puerto Rico’s emergency management
commissioner.  

Also Read | What is Fiona, tropical storm threatening Puerto Rico?

Many Puerto
Ricans are concerned about blackouts. Luma, the company that operates power
transmission and distribution, warned of “widespread service interruptions.”

Hurricane
Fiona hit Puerto Rico just two days prior to the anniversary of Hurricane
Maria, a devastating Category 4 storm that hit on September 20, 2017, causing
nearly 3,000 deaths and destroying the islands power grid.

“I think all
of us Puerto Ricans who lived through Maria have that post-traumatic stress of,
‘What is going to happen, how long is it going to last and what needs might we
face?’” said Danny Hernández, who works in the capital of San Juan but planned
to weather the storm with his parents and family in the western town of Mayaguez.

He said the atmosphere was gloomy at the
supermarket as he and others stocked up before the storm hit. “After Maria, we
all experienced scarcity to some extent,” he said.

Fiona
previously battered the eastern Caribbean, killing one man in the French
territory of Guadeloupe when floods washed his home away, officials said. The
storm also damaged roads, uprooted trees and destroyed at least one bridge.