Caribbean – Hurricane Dorian Causes Flooding and Power Outages

Hurricane Dorian caused wind damage, power outages and flooding in parts of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as the storm passed over the northern Caribbean with maximum sustained winds of 110 km/h. Assessments are ongoing but no major damage has been reported so far.

On Aug. 28, 2019 at 1:30 p.m. EDT, the MODIS instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite provided a visible image of Dorian as it became a hurricane near St. Thomas and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Credit: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)

Pre-emptive evacuations were carried out by local disaster management agencies after heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surge were forecast for the Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos. Some ports and airports were closed.

As of 29 August, Dorian was situated around 250km north west of Puerto Rico. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Dorian is forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane by Friday 30 August and approach the northwestern Bahamas on Saturday 31 August.

NHC said that heavy rain Dorian is expected to produce heavy rainfall of up to 12 inches (300 mm) in isolated areas of the Bahamas and south eastern USA. NHC warned “This rainfall may cause life-threatening flash floods.”