Fiona became the third hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic season on Sunday just hours before making landfall in Puerto Rico, where forecasters expect a life-threatening situation to unfold early this week.
Published Sep. 16, 2022 8:40 AM EDT | Updated Sep. 18, 2022 7:55 PM EDT
Fiona strengthened into the third hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season just hours before making landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday, but the worst of the storm isn't over yet with AccuWeather meteorologists predicting feet of rain that could cause life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides.
Landfall occurred at 3:20 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 18, on the extreme southwestern coast of Puerto Rico near Punta Tocon. Fiona was a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour. Debris filled the sky in a video recorded in Ponce, Puerto Rico, located about 35 miles east of where Fiona made landfall.
Hurricane warnings remain in effect for all of Puerto Rico, as well as eastern portions of the Dominican Republic. AccuWeather forecasters have rated Fiona a 2 for the Caribbean on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes as a result of the heightened risk to life and property from the storm's strong winds and heavy rain, which can amount up to 24 inches (600 mm) in some spots.
At 8 p.m. EDT Sunday, Fiona was a Category 1 hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 km/h) with even higher gusts. The center was 45 miles (70 km) west of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and was causing "catastrophic flooding," according to the National Hurricane Center.
The entire power grid in Puerto Rico went down on Sunday, creating an island-wide crisis. Every one of the nearly 1.5 million power customers across the island was in the dark.
This radar image shows Fiona around the time that it made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (AccuWeather)
Ahead of Fiona, beaches in Puerto Rico were shut down and officials opened shelters, according to The Associated Press. Theaters and museums were also closed as Fiona approached and officials cautioned residents to stay indoors as conditions deteriorate. As the governor urged residents not to underestimate Fiona on Saturday, Sept. 17, the lights briefly went out while TV cameras were rolling.
Fiona, the most significant tropical system to impact the Caribbean so far this Atlantic hurricane season, has already proved deadly in its sweep of the Lesser Antilles. On Saturday, one man was found dead on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe after heavy rainfall in the area attributed to Fiona caused flooding, local authorities stated. The man was found dead after his house was swept away by floods, and video footage from the island showed a river bursting out of its banks. There have been reports of 19 inches (482 mm) of rain on the island.
Early Saturday morning, the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters posted an eerie video from their flight through Fiona overnight Friday, which showed frequent flashes of lightning illuminating the clouds and cockpit of the airplane.
Fiona's projected course over the southwestern part of Puerto Rico will allow most of its circulation to miss significant encounters with the 4,000-foot mountains on Puerto Rico and 10,000-foot mountains on Hispaniola. As a result, a loss in the storm's wind intensity is unlikely.
A swath of 60- to 80-mph (100- to 130-km/h) wind gusts is expected to stretch across Puerto Rico, eastern and central portions of the Dominican Republic and into the southeastern Bahamas through Monday. Gusts nearing the AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 100 mph (160 km/h) will be most likely closest to where Fiona's center passes by.
Workers outfit the doors and windows of a Marshall's department store in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, with storm shutters as Tropical Storm Fiona closed in on the island Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022.
Loose outdoor objects should be properly secured or stowed away ahead of Fiona's winds, which are at a high enough level for some tree damage, power outages and minor structural damage to occur.
There is every indication that the storm will pack a significant threat to life and property due to the risk of flash flooding and mudslides.
A general 12-18 inches (200-300 mm) of rain is forecast to fall on much of the southern part of Puerto Rico with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 24 inches (600 mm). Rainfall of this extreme magnitude will trigger life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides. Even 4-8 inches (100-200 mm) poised for parts of the Virgin Islands and Hispaniola can lead to flooding and debris flows, forecasters warn.
Puerto Rico, the United States, the British Virgin Islands and the eastern part of the Dominican Republic will feel the brunt of the impacts of Fiona into Monday. Early this week, Fiona will then spread flooding rainfall and gusty winds across the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas, where tropical storm watches were issued Sunday morning.
Fiona’s path toward Puerto Rico comes nearly five years to the day since Hurricane Maria left much of the island in ruins. While Fiona is far from the powerful storm Maria was when it made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 20, it still poses a significant threat.
Puerto Rico's last brush with a tropical system was nearly one year ago when Tropical Storm Peter brought heavy rain to various parts of the island from Sept. 19-22, 2021. In early August 2021, Tropical Storm Fred passed through the island, causing 2-4 inches (50-100 mm) of rainfall as well as power outages.
Beyond the Caribbean and Bahamas, Fiona may be steered on a track toward Bermuda -- a scenario AccuWeather meteorologists are closely monitoring. While the potential for the storm to directly impact the United States has lessened since late last week, indirect impacts in the form of dangerous seas and strong rip currents are likely up and down the East coast of the United States later this week.
So far, the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season has paled in comparison to the previous two years. Last year at this point of the season, some 20 named storms had developed in the Atlantic basin. Though September 2022 has had a relative flurry of tropical activity, there has not been a hurricane within striking distance of the U.S. mainland yet this season, and August was a historically inactive month, which went without a single named storm for the first time in 25 years.
Another metric meteorologists use to gauge the overall intensity of a hurricane season is ACE, or the accumulated cyclone energy of each named storm in a hurricane season. Given that there have been just six named storms this year, the 2022 ACE value, which stood at 31.1 as of Sept. 16, according to Colorado State University, was also dramatically trailing the pace of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, which finished with a value of 145.7.
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