Tropical Storm Isaias predicted to become a hurricane on Friday
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The National Hurricane Center said Thursday that Tropical Storm Isaias, which is battering the Dominican Republic on a forecasted track toward the U.S. East Coast, will likely become a hurricane on Friday. The storm has already unleashed small landslides and caused widespread flooding and power outages in Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from previous hurricanes and earthquakes.
The storm's maximum sustained winds of 60 mph also toppled trees and some telephone and electrical cables across the island.
Especially hard hit was Puerto Rico's southern region, which is still being shaken by daily tremors. Santos Seda, mayor of the southwest town of Guánica, told The Associated Press that he has received reports of downed trees and inundated neighborhoods where earthquake-damaged homes still stand.
"The emotional state of people is deteriorating more every day," he said, adding that crews will fan out to assess damage once the weather clears.
Isaias was centered about 250 miles southeast of the southeastern Bahamas by Thursday afternoon, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was moving northwest at 20 mph, and its center was expected to hit the southeastern Bahamas by late Thursday night.
Isaias was already toppling trees in the Dominican Republic as government workers in some impoverished neighborhoods used loudspeakers to urge people to evacuate ahead of the worst of the storm. Police also arrested a handful of surfers in the capital of Santo Domingo accused of violating government storm warnings.
Isaias knocked out power to more than 400,000 clients across Puerto Rico and left some 150,000 customers without water, according to government officials. Crews opened the gates of one dam that last month had such a low water level it led officials to cut service every other day for some 140,000 customers. Outages also were reported in the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands.
Minor damage was reported elsewhere across Puerto Rico, where tens of thousands of people still use tarps as roofs over homes damaged by Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
José Pagán, a 22-year-old who lives in the eastern mountain town of Juncos, said his power went out before dawn.
"I didn't think it was going to be this strong," he said of the storm, adding that his home is slightly flooded. "It's a rather difficult experience because it reminds us of Maria."
Tropical storm warnings were issued for parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Turks and Caicos, and the southeastern, central, and northwest Bahamas. A tropical storm watch was issued for parts of Florida's eastern coast.
Isaias is expected to produce 4 to 8 inches of rain across Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and northern Haiti, with isolated maximum totals of 10 inches.
The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands could see 4 to 8 inches of rain while Cuba could see 1 to 2 inches, with isolated maximum totals of 4 inches.
"These rainfall amounts will lead to life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides, as well as river flooding," the hurricane center warned.
Isaias is the earliest ninth Atlantic named storm to form, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. The previous record was Irene on August 7, 2005, Klotzbach tweeted.
So far this year, Cristobal, Danielle, Edouard, Fay, Gert and Hanna have also been the earliest named Atlantic storms for their alphabetic order.
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