Kenwood Travel Blog

Florida Holiday

Tropical Storm Irene made landfall along the east coast of Puerto Rico earlier today, lashing the island with winds up to 71 mph, the National Hurricane Centre in Miami reported.

The storm was moving west-northwest at 15 mph (24 kph) and is expected to move near or over the Dominican Republic Monday afternoon or evening, forecasters said. It is expected to weaken as it does.

Rainfall amounts up 5 to 10 inches are expected across Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the hurricane centre said. Isolated maximum amounts of up to 20 inches are possible.

Hurricane warnings are in effect for Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and a hurricane watch is in effect for the central Bahamas and all of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Haiti, southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Meanwhile, the storm known as Harvey was near landfall in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. The system continued unleashing heavy rainfall early Monday.

At 2 a.m. ET Sunday, Harvey was almost onshore near Veracruz, Mexico, packing top winds of about 35 mph. The storm could dump another two to four inches of rain over south-eastern Mexico, with some areas seeing as much as 10 inches, forecasters said.

Harvey struck the coast of Belize Sunday as a tropical storm, with top winds near 60 mph.

-    Reported on CNN

The National Hurricane Centre said the main impediment to the storm’s progress over the next couple of days would be interaction with land. If Irene passes over Hispaniola’s mountains or over parts of eastern Cuba, the storm could weaken more than currently expected.

On its current forecast track, Irene was expected to pass over Puerto Rico late Sunday and over Hispaniola, the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, on Monday or Monday night. Nearly 600,000 people in Haiti still live without shelter after last year’s earthquake.

- Reported by Fox News

Nearly all the Florida peninsula lies within the path predicted for the five-day forecast, the Florida Emergency Management agency said Sunday in its emergency update. Irene is expected to move into the Florida straits on Wednesday or Thursday and then move over southern Florida early Friday.
“All Floridians should monitor the progress of Irene this week,” the advisory said.

- Reported by Usatoday

Footage of the hurricane can be viewed here from CNN.