Hurricane Fiona heads northward, causes damage to Puerto Rico & the Dominican Republic.

• Hurricane Fiona was headed northward after it bore down on the tiny Turks and Caicos archipelago September 20, and caused severe damage to Puerto Rico and then the Dominican Republic.
• Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 18, dumping huge amounts of rainfall on it, and then on the Dominican Republic.
• A public health emergency was declared by US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra for Puerto Rico, which allows the freeing up of federal funds and equipment to assist the island.
• The power category 3 storm dumped heavy rains, triggering floods on the Caribbean archipelago.
• The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the hurricane had moved 75 miles north of Turks and Caicos and was strengthening with wind speeds of 125 mile per hour.

Categorization of Hurricanes:

• Hurricanes are categorized on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which rates them on a scale of 1 to 5 based on wind speed.
• Hurricanes that reach category three or higher are classified as major hurricanes.