A weather system that strengthened into Tropical Storm Isaias overnight made landfall over the Dominican Republic on Thursday afternoon, leaving 400,000 in Puerto Rico without power as it continued its track northwestward toward the Bahamas and the Florida coast.
Isaias moved over the island of Hispaniola in midafternoon with sustained winds of 60 mph bringing intense rain and still battering Puerto Rico while moving at approximately 20 mph, which was expected to slow over the next few days.
The storm crossed just south of Puerto Rico in the early morning hours Thursday and has triggered flash flooding in several areas, with numerous trees, mudslides and flooding reported in southwest Puerto Rico. River flooding was recorded by U.S. Geological Survey gauges in several locations in Puerto Rico, Weather.com reported.
Isaias was expected to grow into a hurricane on Friday or Friday night, the National Weather Service said.
The projected tracks, which a day earlier had it crossing onto land in Florida just west of Miami, on Thursday had shifted eastward so that it would remain just off the state’s Atlantic shore and curve up the coast.
Some projected paths had it remaining off the eastern seaboard until finally reaching land in Nova Scotia, while others had it brushing the coast in North Carolina before continuing up the Atlantic.
The storm was expected to approach the Bahamas on Friday, gaining strength as it moved over water, and was projected to be over the Bahamian island of Andros by 8 a.m. Saturday.
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