Fiona has strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds at 80 mph as it heads toward Puerto Rico on Sunday.
Major impacts are already being felt in Puerto Rico. More than 300,000 residents are currently without power as torrential rain and gusty winds lash the island, and those conditions are expected to continue for the rest of the day.
The island's emergency management office in Puerto Rico even had a blackout during its Saturday morning press conference. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi reiterated during a press briefing Saturday evening that the fear is that heavy rains will produce mudslides. Biden's decision has the "purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in all 78 municipalities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico," the White House said in a statement.
Fiona's center moved through the island of Guadeloupe on Friday night, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds across the Leeward Islands. A LUMA Energy official told ABC News on Saturday that the company has been fixing the grid and is ready to get the grid back online if the system fails. LUMA Energy is in charge of the transmission and distribution of electricity on the island.
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