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Tropical Storm Dorian: Puerto Rico Is on Alert for Hurricane Tropical Storm Dorian: Puerto Rico Is on Alert for Hurricane
(about 4 hours later)
As Tropical Storm Dorian loomed to its southeast on Tuesday, Puerto Rico braced for the possibility that it would sideswipe the island, with the authorities declaring an emergency, closing schools early and preparing emergency shelter for tens of thousands of people. The storm is expected to cross directly over Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
Though the latest forecasts suggested that Puerto Rico might be spared a direct hit, the island’s leaders sought to assure its 3.2 million people that they would not be caught underestimating Dorian, especially after the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Officials on the island closed schools and opened shelters.
The Bahamas and Florida may be hit later in the week.
As Tropical Storm Dorian drew closer on Tuesday, Puerto Rico braced for the possibility that it would not just sideswipe the island but perhaps make landfall there. The authorities declared an emergency, closing schools early and preparing emergency shelter for tens of thousands of people.
As forecasters shifted the projected path of Dorian northward and posted tropical storm warnings for all of Puerto Rico, the island’s leaders sought to assure its 3.2 million people that they would not be caught underestimating Dorian, especially after the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
“I want everyone to feel calm,” Gov. Wanda Vázquez said as she declared a state of emergency on Monday evening. “Agency heads have prepared for the past two years. The experience of Maria has been a great lesson for everyone.”“I want everyone to feel calm,” Gov. Wanda Vázquez said as she declared a state of emergency on Monday evening. “Agency heads have prepared for the past two years. The experience of Maria has been a great lesson for everyone.”
Dorian is expected to strengthen over the warm waters of the Caribbean and to brush the southwest part of Puerto Rico on Wednesday night, before making landfall on the eastern end of the Dominican Republic, according to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center. Even if its strongest winds bypass Puerto Rico, the storm could soak parts of the island with six inches of rain. Dorian is expected to strengthen over the warm waters of the Caribbean and to reach Puerto Rico on Wednesday, with its winds and rains also sweeping over the Virgin Islands and the eastern provinces of the Dominican Republic, according to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center. Even if its strongest sustained winds do not reach hurricane force, Puerto Rico could be soaked with six inches of rain or more and could experience damaging flooding.
On Tuesday morning, the storm system was dumping heavy rain on the Windward Islands of the eastern Caribbean, with maximum sustained winds of about 50 miles an hour. The islands include Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Overnight in Barbados, the storm knocked out power in many towns in the island’s north. But officials said public transportation would be back to normal service and businesses would reopen on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the storm system was dumping heavy rain on the Windward Islands of the eastern Caribbean, with maximum sustained winds of about 50 miles an hour. The islands include Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Overnight in Barbados, the storm knocked out power in many towns in the island’s north. But officials said public transportation would be back to normal service and businesses would reopen by the end of the day.
The storm was moving west-northwest at about 13 miles an hour, on a path that could eventually bring high winds and rainfall to the Bahamas later this week. And while Dorian’s trajectory is difficult to predict days in advance, forecasters say tropical storm conditions are possible in Florida, beginning on Saturday.The storm was moving west-northwest at about 13 miles an hour, on a path that could eventually bring high winds and rainfall to the Bahamas later this week. And while Dorian’s trajectory is difficult to predict days in advance, forecasters say tropical storm conditions are possible in Florida, beginning on Saturday.
In Puerto Rico, public schools were told to close at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Some 360 shelters would open around the island to house up to 49,000 people, Ms. Vázquez’s administration said on Monday. In Puerto Rico, public schools closed early and hundreds of emergency shelters opened around the island to house tens of thousands of people.
She also ordered a price freeze in an effort to prevent price gouging for fuel and other supplies, and announced a list of new disaster response equipment, including satellite telephones for the public power utility. Ms. Vázquez also said aid contracts had been signed in case there were widespread power disruptions like the ones that kept the entire island in the dark after Hurricane Maria, then a Category 4 storm, struck in 2017. “It’s scary,” Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz of San Juan, the capital, said in a news conference on Tuesday. “The reaction of people going to the stores and buying loads and loads of food and water is just a reaction to what is ingrained in your brain and in your soul about what could go wrong.”
Governor Vázquez ordered a price freeze in an effort to prevent price gouging for fuel and other supplies, and announced a list of new disaster response equipment, including satellite telephones for the public power utility. Ms. Vázquez also said aid contracts had been signed in case there were widespread power disruptions like the ones that kept the entire island in the dark after Hurricane Maria, then a Category 4 storm, struck in 2017.
The storm is an early challenge for Ms. Vázquez, the former justice secretary who assumed the governorship three weeks ago after a popular uprising ousted Ricardo A. Rosselló, the governor during the devastating 2017 hurricane season. The protests began as a demonstration against the weak economy, graft scandals and a callous response to Hurricane Maria. It ended up toppling the government in two weeks.The storm is an early challenge for Ms. Vázquez, the former justice secretary who assumed the governorship three weeks ago after a popular uprising ousted Ricardo A. Rosselló, the governor during the devastating 2017 hurricane season. The protests began as a demonstration against the weak economy, graft scandals and a callous response to Hurricane Maria. It ended up toppling the government in two weeks.
But money for the preparations remains an issue. The Trump administration said this month that it would delay about $9 billion in disaster prevention funds intended for Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, citing concerns over fiscal management.But money for the preparations remains an issue. The Trump administration said this month that it would delay about $9 billion in disaster prevention funds intended for Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, citing concerns over fiscal management.
President Trump repeated on Tuesday, incorrectly, that Congress had approved more than $90 billion for Puerto Rico last year.President Trump repeated on Tuesday, incorrectly, that Congress had approved more than $90 billion for Puerto Rico last year.
While $91 billion is the Office of Management and Budget’s estimate of how much the island could receive over the next two decades, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies had distributed $11.2 billion in aid to Puerto Rico as of April.While $91 billion is the Office of Management and Budget’s estimate of how much the island could receive over the next two decades, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies had distributed $11.2 billion in aid to Puerto Rico as of April.
In the Dominican Republic, where Dorian could strike as a Category 1 hurricane, the government said it had sent alerts to six of its 32 provinces and was preparing more than 3,000 shelters that could house 800,000 people. “The president of the United States lies again, because that is part of his racist discourse, and part of his anti-democratic discourse, and part of his anti-Latino discourse,” Mayor Cruz said.
Democrats in Washington criticized the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday for transferring more than $150 million from FEMA’s disaster relief fund to pay for temporary immigration courts at the southwest border. Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the timing of the transfer in the middle of hurricane season could have deadly consequences.
In the Dominican Republic, the government said it had sent alerts to six of its 32 provinces and was preparing more than 3,000 shelters that could house 800,000 people.