Tropical Storm Erika at 11 a.m. Friday.
Updated 6 minutes ago
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency across all of Florida in preparation for Tropical Storm Erika.
Erika
lashed Puerto Rico early Friday with heavy rains and wind after killing
as many as 25 people and causing devastating floods in the eastern
Caribbean island of Dominica.
As
of 11 a.m. on Friday, the NHC forecast Erika's track shifts west,
possibly bringing a 60 mph tropical storm to Florida late Sunday
night. Erika remains a disorganized tropical storm, not forecast to be a
hurricane.
Officials in Miami-Dade and Broward were planning to hold news conferences Friday afternoon to discuss Erika.
Erika
was located about 155 miles east-southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic, and was moving west near 17 mph, according to the U.S.
National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm's maximum sustained winds
were near 50 mph.
The
storm was expected to dump up to 12 inches (31 centimeters) of rain
across portions of the drought-stricken northern Caribbean as it carved a
path toward the U.S. Forecasters said Erika might fall apart over
Hispaniola or Puerto Rico or possibly strengthen into a hurricane as it
nears South Florida early next week.
Authorities
in Puerto Rico closed certain roads in anticipation of numerous
landslides, while rescue crews fanned across Dominica overnight to
search for missing and injured people.
"Erika
has really, really visited us with a vengeance,'' Assistance Police
Superintendent Claude Weekes said by phone. "There are many fallen rocks
and trees, and water. It's really chaotic.''
In Dominica, local reports put the rising death toll at 25 Friday morning. The prime minister confirmed at least 12 deaths to NBC News on Twitter,
but said the number could be higher. Authorities there had previously
said an elderly blind man and two children died when a mudslide hit
their home in the island's southeast region. Another man was found dead
near his home in the capital of Roseau after a mudslide, but the cause
of death could not be immediately determined.
Police
in the lush and mountainous island of Dominica expected to reach
isolated communities via the ocean because of impassable roads and
bridges. The Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management
Agency also pledged assistance. Ronald Jackson, the agency's executive
director, said in a phone interview that at least two helicopters would
arrive early Friday in Dominica carrying supplies and two medics from
Trinidad.
"The only way into Dominica at this time is via helicopter,'' he said.
Erika
downed trees and power lines in Dominica as it unleashed heavy floods
that swept cars down streets and ripped scaffolding off some buildings.
The
storm is expected to move near or over the Dominican Republic on Friday
as it heads toward the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bahamas.
Tropical
storm warnings were in effect for areas across the Caribbean including
Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, the
Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, St. Martin and
St. Barthelemy.
Meanwhile
in the Pacific, Ignacio strengthened into a hurricane. The storm's
maximum sustained winds increased Thursday morning to 90 mph (150 kph).
Hurricane
Ignacio was centered about 890 miles (1,430 kilometers) east-southeast
of Hilo, Hawaii, and was moving west-northwest near 12 mph (19 kph).
Also
in the Pacific, Jimena strengthened to a hurricane Friday morning with
maximum sustained winds near 80 mph (130 kph). Jimena was centered about
1,045 miles (1,680 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of
Mexico's Baja California peninsula.