(Miami) Florida was preparing Sunday for the passage of Isaias , the hurricane that dumped torrential rains on the Bahamas on Saturday before being demoted as a tropical storm.
Posted on August 2 924 at 752
Leila MACOR with Daxia ROJAS in Washington
France Media Agency
Forecasters estimated that Isaias could regain strength and become a hurricane again by touching the coasts of Florida where it will test the services of emergencies of one of the states most affected by the COVID epidemic – 12 in the USA.
Isaias , which was downgraded from Category 1 hurricane to tropical storm on Saturday night, was blowing maximum winds up to 110 km / hour over the Straits of Florida.
PHOTO WILFREDO LEE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm would amplify and revert to a hurricane overnight as it approached Southeast Florida before advancing toward the coast east of the peninsula.
The region was already enduring violent gusts of rain on Sunday morning.
“We will start to see the impacts of the storm tonight, then obviously tomorrow until tomorrow night,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Saturday night. Palm Beach County has issued a voluntary evacuation notice, he said.
According to the NHC, “although Isaias weakened after his visit to the island of Andros [aux Bahamas], he should strengthen on Saturday evening and Sunday morning when the cyclone moves over the warm waters of the Strait of Florida and the Gulf Stream ”.
PHOTO TWITTER @BYJEFFTODD VIA REUTERS
The trees were shaken during the passage from Isaias to Great Exuma, Bahamas.
“ Isaias is expected to remain a hurricane through Monday, followed by gradual weakening Monday night or Tuesday,” the organization added.
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NASA for its part was following the storm very carefully, which risked disrupting the return to Earth of SpaceX's manned capsule, after two months on the International Space Station (ISS).
Crew Dragon is due to bring back two astronauts Sunday afternoon for a water landing off Florida in the Gulf of Mexico weather permitting.
TO 19 h 19, the capsule has started the process to exit the 'ISS and land on Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico towards 12 h 40, according to the space agency American.
A site off the city of Pensacola (in northern Florida) has been selected as “priority” for water landing, with an alternative in front of Panama City, if the sea is too rough or too strong winds.
Roads submerged in mud, high voltage lines torn off, decapitated trees and vegetation, flooded houses… Since Thursday, Isaias has already done a lot of damage in Puerto Rico, American territory, in the Dominican Republic, not to mention the Bahamas.
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The Republican Governor of Florida on Friday declared a state of emergency for counties on the state's east coast, from Miami-Dade to Nassau, which was approved by President Donald Trump on Saturday, allowing the granting of funds. “It will help our state respond quickly to any damage,” Mr. DeSantis tweeted.
The passage of the hurricane over Florida comes as this state in the southeast of the United States is already grappling with a sharp upsurge in the coronavirus epidemic.
Florida lamented Saturday 179 deaths linked to the new coronavirus in one day, a slightly lower balance sheet, after the records of the previous days (257 dead Friday, 253 died Thursday, 216 Wednesday, 186 Tuesday).
It also has more than 257 000 0 cases detected since the start of the pandemic, exceeding New York, long the epicenter of the American epidemic in the spring, and second behind California, whose population is twice as large.
Due to the weather, the state had to close COVID testing centers – 12, often set up in tents, in anticipation of the arrival of the hurricane, even if the county detection centers remain open.
“When we resume the tests, it is very likely that we will see a new outbreak of cases”, feared on CNN Francis Suarez, the mayor of Miami.
