Canada braces for Hurricane Fiona after a week of lashing wind and rain in Caribbean
After lashing parts of Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands with 140 kilometre-an-hour winds, Hurricane Fiona is expected to make landfall in Canada late Friday and Saturday, the UN said.
“Fiona is expected to affect portions of Atlantic Canada as a powerful hurricane-force cyclone…significant impacts from high winds, storm surge and heavy rainfall are likely,” said World Meteorological Organization (WMO) spokesperson Clare Nullis.
“Life-threatening surf and rip” currents in the next few days are also expected along much of the east coast of the United States, the Bahamas, Bermuda and Canada’s east coast, the UN agency noted.
At least five deaths have reportedly been attributed to the hurricane, which barrelled into Puerto Rico last Sunday. Aid agencies reported torrential rains and considerable damage including power outages, landslides, fallen trees and power lines that made roads impassable and caused a bridge to collapse in a mountainous region.
“(In) Puerto Rico, more than 40 per cent of the island was covered with 15 inches of rain, so that is 380 millimetres of rain,” said Ms. Nullis. “There was a maximum of 32 inches, which is 800 millimetres in 48 hours in some parts. I mean, these are just absolutely enormous quantities of rain.”
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) meanwhile reported that Hurricane Fiona hit Turks and Caicos Islands as a category three storm on Tuesday, before crashing into the Bahamas and then shifting towards Bermuda.
“Before that, however, Fiona left a significant impact on Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, with mudslides, damage to property and widespread loss of power,” said Regis Chapman, Country Director of WFP’s Multi Country Office in the Caribbean, speaking from Bridgetown, Barbados.
He added that latest assessments indicated that the situation “can be handled by the different governments” but highlighted the chronic vulnerability of low-lying Caribbean island States, in the face of the annual hurricane season.
“Fiona was a reminder that all of the Caribbean has to stay prepared to face any level of impact from storms, and essentially countries and people here in this part of the world spend, you know, roughly half of their month, sort of on a knife's edge, wondering if this is their year.”
The devastation caused by Fiona in Puerto Rico comes five years since Hurricane Maria wreaked huge damage and loss of life there, with an official death toll of 65 and an unknown number of other fatalities.
Maria was a category 4 hurricane when it reached Puerto Rico as the strongest storm to hit the island since 1928 and by far the most destructive, WMO noted. Power was lost to the entire island and was only restored to just over half the population three months after the hurricane, while water supplies and communications networks were also severely affected.
According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Maria caused $90 billion worth of damage in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, making it the third most costly hurricane in US history, behind Katrina (2005) and Harvey (also in 2017).
ends
STORY: Hurricane Fiona Update – WMO, WFP
TRT: 1 mins 53s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 23 September 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Institutionalised forced labour by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea constitutes grave violations of human rights – UN report
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Time is running out for starving civilians in Sudan, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday, while talks involving the country’s warring parties continue in Geneva this week.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC faces a severe humanitarian crisis with 25M in need and rising conflict-related issues.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
A gimmer of good news emerged from Gaza on Tuesday as patients returned to at a newly reopened UN health centre in Khan Younis, six months after it was severely damaged and forced to close by heavy fighting, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN condemns attacks on Kyiv hospitals, calls for immediate action to protect civilians.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
In Gaza, soaring temperatures, hunger and unsanitary conditions present an ever more deadly threat to a population under constant attack, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WMO , IFRC
Hurricane Beryl smashes into Caribbean, turns sights on Mexico As Hurricane Beryl’s destructive path shifted to Mexico on Friday after roiling the Caribbean, UN agencies and partners said that the emergency response was underway, before warning that a very long and damaging hurricane season looks increasingly likely.
1
1
2
Edited News | IOM , mcc , UNHCR
Refugees and migrants continue to face extreme forms of violence, exploitation and death on sea and on land across Africa as they attempt to leave the continent, UN agencies said on Friday, in an appeal to border authorities to do more to protect them.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk at the 56th Human Rigths Council, made the following update on the situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
New evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army for areas in southern Gaza are expected to impact 250,000 people, including eastern Khan Younis and Rafah, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: People are desperate, they need everything, says UN aid agency Panic and desperation now grip ordinary Gazans struggling to survive, UN humanitarians said on Friday, amid fuel shortages of fuel and dwindling supplies that have prevented aid teams from doing their job.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
UN aid teams and partner organizations remain deeply committed to delivering lifesaving supplies into Gaza, despite the increasing dangers of working there, the Organization’s top aid official said on Wednesday.