Hurricane Fiona death toll climbs to 25 in Puerto Rico

Hurricane Fiona killed at least 25 people in Puerto Rico, according to the island’s emergency department.

The U.S. territory is still repairing infrastructure and picking up the pieces after Fiona made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Sept. 18. The storm knocked out power across the island, which still hadn’t fully recovered from Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Nearly two weeks after Fiona made landfall, 16% of Puerto Rico remained without power, according to the emergency department. More than 95% of people in the major cities of San Juan and Bayamon had electricity.

A house in Puerto Rico lays in mud on Sept. 21. (Alejandro Granadillo/)

The Puerto Rican government classified one storm death as “direct” and 10 as “indirect.” Fourteen deaths were still under investigation.

Fiona also cut off running water to many parts of Puerto Rico. More than 10 days after the storm, 6% of water utility customers still had no service, according to the health department.

After crushing Puerto Rico, Fiona traveled north and swamped Atlantic Canada with heavy rains, though it lost its hurricane status before striking Nova Scotia. At least three people were killed and widespread power outages were reported in Canada.

Fiona made landfall in Canada on Sept. 24, the same date that Ian became a named storm. Ian later made landfall as a Category 4 storm along Florida’s Gulf Coast before barreling across the state, reemerging in the Atlantic Ocean and making landfall in South Carolina on Friday.