Puerto Rico braces for likely hurricane as Dorian gathers strength
Late Monday, Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in preparation for a Category 1 hurricane hitting the island territory on Wednesday. The declaration activates Puerto Rico's National Guard. Tropical Storm Dorian was moving over the Windward Islands Tuesday morning, and the National Hurricane Center said "some strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, and Dorian is expected to be a hurricane when it moves near Puerto Rico and eastern Hispaniola." It put Puerto Rico on hurricane watch.
Puerto Rico is still recovering from 2017's Hurricane Maria, and some 30,000 homes still have blue tarps as roofs. "People in PR have PTSD," a woman in Puerto Rico told CBS News' David Begnaud when she sent him a video of people lining up to buy supplies over the weekend.
There are also tropical storms warnings for St. Lucia, Martinique, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados, where Prime Minister Mia Mottley ordered the closure of schools and government offices across the island. "When you're dead, you're dead," she said late Sunday in a televised address. "Stay inside and get some rest."
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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