Hurricane Fiona: Puerto Rico in Total Blackout, Videos Show Scary Damage

Hurricane Fiona made landfall in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon, and the island faces not only power outages and high winds but also massive flooding.

The island has already lost much of its power as winds reached 86mph. Forecasters have warned of around two feet of rain and catastrophic flooding on the island.

According to BBC, President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico, allowing authorities to provide disaster relief as soon as possible. However, it could take several days to restore power on the islands, as admitted by its energy provider, Luma Energy.

Generators for healthcare centers have been affected, and Puerto Rico's health secretary has said that crews are now working to repair these generators.

Flights heading out of the country have also been canceled. The National Hurricane Center warned citizens that the rains will produce "life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding."

Public schools and several government agencies remain closed on Monday, and the Puerto Rico Governor's Office has released an advisory urging citizens to seek cover as soon as possible.

Puerto Rico's Response to Hurricane Fiona Won't be Like Hurricane Maria, Says Officials

According to a report by PowerOutage.us, all of Puerto Rico lost power earlier Sunday as the Category 1 storm approached the islands. Several rivers on the eastern side of the territory had also been placed in moderate to major flood stage.

Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi confirmed that the entire island suffered the outage and noted that the entire electric system was out of service.

According to CNN, officials have now activated the proper protocols to work to restore power. Pierluisi noted that work on restoring power continues.

This blackout comes five years after the territory's power grid was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017, leaving residents without electricity for months.

However, LUMA Energy's public safety and crisis management head, Abner Gomez, noted that this will not be like that. He said: "This is not Maria. This hurricane will not be Maria."

In addition to the local Puerto Rican responders, FEMA has sent over 300 responders to Puerto Rico. They are now working "hand and glove" with the commonwealth, said FEMA's Assistant Administrator for Response and Recovery Anne Bink.

She added that her heart goes out to the residents as they are going through what happened with Hurricane Maria, as Fiona hit close to Maria's 5th year anniversary.

Puerto Rican Netizens Show Devastating Scenes of Hurricane Fiona

While the government works round the clock to repair what the storm has damaged and return power to the territory, Puerto Rican citizens are facing the brunt of the storm.

Many have posted the sheer devastation brought about by Fiona's landfall, from severe flooding to a river overflowing and becoming strong enough to wash away an entire bridge.

Hurricane Fiona is forecasted to become a major hurricane or a Category 3 or higher storm in about 48 hours along the east of the Bahamas. As of 5 p.m. Sunday, Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph and was moving west at nine mph.

Tropical storm conditions are expected to reach portions of the Dominican Republic in the next few hours and then in the Turks and Caicos Islands and parts of the southeastern Bahamas by early Tuesday.

Reports said a person already died when his house was swept away by severe flooding on the French island of Guadeloupe.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Hurricane Fiona Wipes Out Puerto Rico's Power - From NBC News