Update: Tropical Storm Erika fades before Florida
Following concerns last week that Tropical Storm Erika would hit Florida with a Category 1 Hurricane, the storm instead broke up in the waters off Cuba over the weekend, resulting in just heavy rainfall in the region. &nbsp;Hurricane watches and storm warnings have been dropped, however, the US National Hurricane Centre suggested that "interests in the Bahamas, eastern and central Cuba, and southern Florida should monitor the progress of the remnants of Erika". &nbsp;Erika left at least 20 people dead and many missing when it passed over Dominica last week.
Tropical Storm Erika, which killed at least 20 people on the small Caribbean island of Dominica, broke up in the waters off Cuba, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Saturday.

All tropical storm warnings and watches have been dropped across the Caribbean, the center said in its advisory. Heavy rains from Erika’s remains could still bring flash floods and mud slides in Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and as much as 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain may fall in Florida starting Sunday.

“Interests in the Bahamas, eastern and central Cuba, and southern Florida should monitor the progress of the remnants of Erika,” the center said.

Erika, the fifth storm of the six-month Atlantic hurricane season, killed at least 20 on Dominica and left many others missing, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a broadcast Friday posted on his Facebook and Twitter pages. The mountainous island is home to just under 74,000 people and is known for its forests, national parks and eco-tourism resorts.

“The extent of the damage is monumental,” Skerrit said. “Some communities are no longer recognizable.”

The monetary damages caused by Erika are still unknown, Skerrit said. The tiny island’s gross domestic product in 2014 was $538 million, according to the World Bank.

Major Setback

Across Dominica, located between Guadeloupe and Martinique, roads have been washed out, the country’s airport was damaged and towns have been cut off. Skerrit estimated development on the island has been set back 20 years.

Skerrit asked people from the island now living in other countries to send money home to relatives and friends. He also appealed to the international community for help.

The hurricane center is also watching another potential storm off the coast of Africa. It has a 70 percent chance of becoming a tropical system in the next five days.

In the Pacific, Hawaii is forecast to have hurricanes to its east and west through next week.

Forecasters are watching Hurricane Ignacio with top winds of 90 mph, which is now 785 miles east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii. The storm’s forecast track is to miss the island state just to the east starting Monday.

Tropical Storm Kilo is forecast to reach hurricane strength and pass Hawaii to the west.

–With assistance from Megan Durisin in Chicago, Kim Chipman in Washington, Ezra Fieser in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Mark Chediak in San Francisco.

Copyright 2023 Bloomberg.

Topics Catastrophe Florida Natural Disasters Windstorm Hurricane