Hurricane Fiona reached category 4 this Wednesday, becoming the most powerful storm of the season in the Atlantic Ocean as it travels towards the Bermuda Islands with winds of more than 130 miles per hour;
the Canadian coast is already on alert, and the storm surge it causes may also affect the US East Coast, after the devastating damage caused in Puerto Rico;
In total, five people have died in the Caribbean islands due to this cyclone.
But now the growing threat of a new storm that could reach the continental United States coast as a category 3 cyclone (classified as major by the National Hurricane Center) is also taking shape.
An as-yet-unnamed disturbance (known to meteorologists as Invest 98L, but if it formed now it would be called Hermine) is gathering strength and organizing off the Venezuelan coast, moving toward Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao (known as the ABC Islands) with " showers and electrical storms," as reported Thursday by the National Hurricane Center, which also warned of its possible impact on northeastern Colombia.
National Hurricane Center
Most scientific models that predict cyclone routes predict that it will become a tropical storm this weekend in the Caribbean Sea, advancing between the South American continent and the large islands (Hispaniola and Cuba) to gain strength at the beginning of the next week, according to USA Today.
"It's the most significant threat to the continental United States that we've had this hurricane season," Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist for AccuWeather, told the newspaper.
On video: This is how Fiona hit the Turks and Caicos Islands as a category 4 hurricane
Sept.
21, 202200:24
"We are dealing with
a major hurricane in the eastern Gulf of Mexico with impacts in the Florida Panhandle.
But, areas along the Gulf Coast from Houston, Texas to Key West, Florida should be on alert in the next few days," he added.
The spokeswoman for the National Hurricane Center told the CNN news network that for now "there is a lot of uncertainty" about the progress of the storm: "It is something that we are closely monitoring as we approach the weekend and the next week".
Fiona approaches Bermuda and Canada
This storm does not seem to threaten in any case to hit Puerto Rico again, where there are still many areas isolated by Fiona that rescue teams have not been able to reach.
There are 400,000 people without drinking water since Sunday, according to the newspaper El Nuevo Día. The federal government approved a major disaster declaration for the island, to speed up the arrival of aid to the island.
The US approves the declaration of a major disaster in Puerto Rico
Sept.
22, 202200:21
The hurricane is now heading north, and could reach the island of New Scotland with winds of 100 miles per hour, weakening to a category 1 or 2 hurricane, according to The Washington Post.