A compact Hurricane Beryl, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, was yesterday on a path that would carry it over the Lesser Antilles at the end of the weekend and into the eastern Caribbean, bringing a new threat to islands still rebuilding from last year’s storms.
A hurricane watch was issued for Dominica, which was battered by Hurricane Maria in September last year.
The island’s meteorological service said weather conditions would start deteriorating yesterday night and warned of 15cm to 30cm of rain.
A tropical storm watch was issued for the French Caribbean territories of Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Martin and St Barts. Deeper into the Caribbean, a state of emergency was declared in Puerto Rico, which Maria also pounded.
Beryl formed on Friday and was a Category 1 storm late in the day.
At 2am yesterday, the US National Hurricane Center said Beryl had maximum sustained winds of 130kph.
It was centered 1,392km east-southeast of the Lesser Antilles and was moving west at 22 kph.
Forecasters said Beryl was expected to strengthen some more in the next few days, but predicted it would begin weakening after entering the Caribbean late today or early tomorrow.
It was forecast to pass about 113km south of Puerto Rico today, but the storm-wracked US territory was warned that it could still see high winds as well as heavy rains that could cause flooding and mudslides.
“People have to remain alert,” said Gabriel Lojero, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in San Juan. “The forecast could change for the better or worse.”
Beryl is a compact storm, with hurricane-force winds extending out about 20km from its center.
Forecasters said the storm probably would dissipate once it moves south of Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello declared a state of emergency for the island and suspended work for tomorrow.
Rossello told reporters the island would probably experience power outages, given that its electricity grid has become more vulnerable since Maria, which caused damage estimated at more than US$100 billion.
However, he said that the recovery should be quicker, as there are more power restoration crews and more equipment on the island now.
The governor urged people without sturdy roofs to move to one of the 424 shelters that the government planned to open across the island.
He said that about 60,000 people still have only tarps for roofs.
“There are a lot of Puerto Ricans who are in a vulnerable position,” Rossello said. “We are keeping an eye on this minute by minute. It is not the moment to panic, but it’s the moment to prepare.”
Puerto Rican Secretary of Health Rafael Rodriguez urged all those with serious health conditions to seek shelter at health facilities, which have generators.
Meanwhile, a tropical depression formed in the Atlantic well off the North Carolina coast, but forecasters said it was not expected to pose any threat to land.
The hurricane center said it would likely become a tropical storm yesterday and continue strengthening over the next few days while remaining far offshore.
At 11pm, the storm was centered about 315km south-southeast of Cape Hatteras with maximum sustained winds of 48kph. It was moving north-northwest at 9kph.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS