Hurricane Fiona has moved back into the Atlantic Ocean after making two landfalls in the past 24 hours. Fiona first crashed into the extreme southwestern coast of Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon, leaving catastrophic flooding and 90% of the island in the dark, and then hit the eastern Dominican Republic about 12 hours later, early Monday morning.

As of Monday evening, Hurricane Fiona had winds of 100 mph and was moving northwest at 10 mph. Even with Hurricane Fiona’s exit, heavy rain from Fiona will continue across Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic through this evening. The National Hurricane Center warns that these rains could produce life-threatening and catastrophic flooding along with landsides in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. 

Maximum sustained winds for Hurricane Fiona’s first landfall in Puerto Rico were estimated at about 85 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. High winds were reported across the island on Sunday, including a 103-mph wind gust in the city of Ponce.Hurricane Fiona was slightly stronger for its second landfall in the Dominican Republic, with maximum sustained winds estimated at about 90 mph – still a Category 1 hurricane. The Punta Cana International Airport clocked a 79-mph wind gust near the time of landfall in the pre-dawn hours of Monday. A gust of 98 mph was later recorded in Samana at El Catey International Airport on Monday afternoon.

The entire archipelago of Puerto Rico plunged into a blackout Sunday afternoon as Hurricane Fiona’s high winds caused severe damage to the U.S. territory’s power grid, which was destroyed by Hurricane Maria about five years ago in October 2017. Nearly 1.5 million customers were without power on Sunday afternoon.

According to LUMA Energy – the power company responsible for Puerto Rico – power had been restored to about 100,000 customers as of Monday morning within the municipalities of Toa Alta, Toa Baja, the San Juan metropolitan area, Bayamón and Corozal. However, more than 1.3 million were still without electricity, which is nearly 90% of Puerto Rico.