Tropical Storm Laura pummels Haiti, DomRep; heads to US
The Caribbean has been pummeled by Tropical Storm Laura leaving thousands without electricity and water in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
The storm
brought heavy rainfall and flooding to the neighbouring countries with one at
least one reported dead after a tree fell on a home in Haiti killing a
10-year-old child.
More than
100,000 people were left without water in the Dominican Republic while some
200,000 were left without electricity in Puerto Rico after downed trees knocked
out power lines.
Officials with
megaphones made their way through the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo
Domingo, warning residents to evacuate flood-prone areas before the heavy rains
began.
Laura was
located about 65 kilometres north-northeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti this
morning and is projected to move over Cuba later this evening or tomorrow.
The storm is
projected to strengthen once it moves into the Gulf of Mexico where an
interesting situation awaits. Laura will likely impact the Gulf at the same time
as another tropical storm, Marco. Both are projected to approach Louisiana’s
coast at or close to hurricane force tomorrow. Two hurricanes have never
appeared in the Gulf at the same time, according to records which date back to
1900. The last time two tropical storms were in the
Gulf together was in 1959.