Month: September 2022

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Fiona remains a major Category 4 hurricane pulling slowly northward on Thursday. The hurricane has brought a high rip current risk to the North Carolina coast through Saturday. Seas will also become rougher with wave heights expected to reach 3-7 feet on Thursday and 8-12 feet on Friday. Minor coastal flooding is also a possibility with winds gusting from 25-40 mph. Fiona will strengthen before passing west of Bermuda with rain…

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Fiona left dozens of families stranded across Puerto Rico after smashing roads and bridges, with authorities still struggling to reach people four days after the storm smacked the U.S. territory, causing historic flooding. For now, government officials are working with religious groups, nonprofits and others braving landslides, thick mud and broken asphalt by foot to provide food, water and medicine for people in need, but they are under pressure to…

JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) — Organizations across the state are mobilizing to send resources to Puerto Rico. Volunteers with the Red Cross in the Sandhills arrived Tuesday and they’re working with volunteers there who desperately want to help. “It’s life-changing to many families,” said Jose Espinosa. “For now, we are working with one family who has a 1-year-old. The whole river went out crushed the whole house and they lost everything inside the house. No…

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Fiona is now a major Category 4 hurricane as it pulls north away from Turks and Caicos and Bahamas, according to the National Hurricane Center. It will bring with it a moderate rip current risk for the much of the North Carolina coast on Wednesday. Conditions should improve in those area on Wednesday with a break where the storm will strengthen before passing west of Bermuda with rain and strong winds…

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Fiona strengthened into a Category 4 storm early Wednesday as it lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands and is forecast to squeeze past Bermuda later this week. The storm was blamed for causing at least four direct deaths in its march through the Caribbean, where it unleashed torrential rain in Puerto Rico, leaving a majority without power or water as hundreds of thousands of people scraped mud out of…

SMITHFIELD, N.C. (WTVD) — When Hurricane Fiona first made landfall in Puerto Rico on Saturday, Cristhian Espinosa had concerns. The storm system pounded the island with rain and flooding knocking out power and washing away homes. “Puerto Rico never recovered from Maria,” said Espinosa. “Fiona was just rain and it was instantly raining for 20 to 30 hours. People lost cars. People almost drowning because of the landslides. Homes were lost because of landslides. Lot…

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Hurricane Fiona has killed at least five people across the Caribbean, cut power and water service for most of Puerto Rico’s 3.1 million residents and left more than 1 million without running water in the Dominican Republic.  The images of the storm’s devastating impact brought back memories of hurricanes Florence and Matthew for residents of Cumberland County still rebuilding and recovering. William Bullock has lived in his home, in a flood risk…