CMC – Following the passage of Tropical Storm Fiona late Friday, at least one person has been declared dead in Guadeloupe after being swept away with his house in Rivière des Pères.
According to the emergency services on the island, more than 600 calls were received as the storm lashed the country.
As of 8 a.m. (local time) Saturday, the Miami based National Hurricane Centre said Fiona was maintaining 60 mph winds with higher gusts.
The system grew in strength after passing by the northern Leeward Islands. Its center was located about 145 miles southeast of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands moving west at 13 mph.
Torrential rain left behind heavy road damage on Guadeloupe with video on social media showing fast-moving floods flowing down streets up to washed out roads and streets flooded up to two feet washing away cars.
Projected rainfall had been more than 8 inches in some parts of the island.
Government officials with the French overseas department said one person is dead and another was after being swept away by rising waters. Already under a tropical storm warning, hurricane watches were issued for Puerto Rico as well as for parts of the Dominican Republic.
Warnings remain in place for the U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin and parts of the Dominican Republic.
The system’s updated path forecasts it to travel away from Florida, while gaining hurricane strength ahead of landfall on the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. It’s expected to keep hurricane strength as a Category one system with 75 mph winds and gusts up to 90 mph as it passes over the island, approaching the Turks and Caicos and threatening the southern Bahamas early next week.
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