National Hurricane Center sign in Miami, Florida.
Tropical Storm Erika lost much of its power as it pounded Haiti and the Dominican Republic early Saturday, but it left devastation in its path. Authorities said the storm killed at least 20 people and leaving another 31 missing on the Caribbean island of Dominica, authorities said.
Though the exact path of Tropical Storm Erika remains unclear, Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for the entire state Friday and urged residents to fill their gas tanks and stockpile food and water. Experts say Erika is a particularly wet storm and is moving across a region that has been struggling with drought. Forecasters said Erika could quite possibly fizzle over Hispaniola, but if the storm weakens as it passes over it could leave it susceptible to trade winds that would push Erika directly in line with South Florida.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said that mountains and an unfavorable environment would likely knock Erika below a tropical storm force, though there was a 30% chance it could recover as it moves along Cuba and then approaches Florida late Sunday. John Cagialosi, a hurricane specialist at the center, warned that people in Florida should still brace for heavy rain.
“This is a potentially heavy rain event for a large part of the state.”
Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit spoke during a televised address late Friday, declaring damage inflicted by the storm set the island back 20 years. About 15 inches of rain fell on the mountainous island.
“The extent of the devastation is monumental. It is far worse than expected,” Skerrit said, adding that hundreds of homes, bridges and roads have been destroyed. “We have, in essence, to rebuild Dominica.”
According to officials with the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency, at least 31 people have been reported missing and the island’s airports remain closed. Some communities remained isolated by flooding and landslides. Skerrit asked people to share their resources with each other as foreign aid begins to arrive in the region.
“This is a period of national tragedy,” he said. “Floods swamped villages, destroyed homes and wiped out roads. Some communities are no longer recognizable.”
Though it weakened, Erika still carried enough force to knock out power to more than 200,000 people in Puerto Rico and cause more than $16 million in damage to crops there, including plantains, bananas and coffee.
Meanwhile in the Pacific, Jimena turned into a powerful Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph, and the Hurricane Center said it was likely to be near Category 5 status soon, though it did not pose an immediate threat to land.
