As forecasters shifted the projected path of Dorian northward and posted tropical storm warnings for all of Puerto Rico, the island’s leaders sought to assure its 3.2 million people that they would not be caught underestimating Dorian, especially after the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
“I am confident that the people of Puerto Rico are prepared,” Gov. Wanda Vázquez said at a news conference Tuesday evening. “We are going to move forward.”
Dorian is expected to strengthen over the warm waters of the Caribbean and to reach Puerto Rico on Wednesday, with its winds and rains also sweeping over the Virgin Islands and the eastern provinces of the Dominican Republic, according to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center. Even if its strongest sustained winds do not reach hurricane force, Puerto Rico could be soaked with 6 inches of rain or more and could experience damaging flooding, especially in the island’s central mountains.
On Tuesday, the storm system was dumping heavy rain on the Windward Islands of the eastern Caribbean, with maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph. The islands include Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Overnight in Barbados, the storm knocked out power in many towns in the island’s north. But officials said public transportation would be back to normal service and businesses would reopen by the end of the day.
The storm was moving west-northwest at about 13 mph, on a path that could eventually bring high winds and rainfall to the Bahamas. And while Dorian’s trajectory is difficult to predict days in advance, forecasters say tropical storm conditions are possible in Florida, beginning Saturday.
President Donald Trump repeated Tuesday, incorrectly, that Congress had approved more than $90 billion for Puerto Rico last year.
Vázquez said that, regardless of Trump’s comment, his administration had been “extraordinary” in staying in touch and offering assistance as Dorian approached. She said her administration had asked FEMA for a federal emergency declaration, but the request had not yet been approved.
This article originally appeared in
.