TORONTO – After soaking parts of the Caribbean on Monday, Tropical Storm Cristobal strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane early Tuesday morning.
Cristobal flooded several islands and grounded flights in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Around 3,600 people were evacuated from communities in the Dominican Republic. In Haiti, more than 600 families were left homeless as the storm passed. At least 28 of the homes were badly damaged, with a further four totally destroyed.
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Although the small island of Bermuda isn’t expected to take a direct hit from Cristobal, a tropical storm watch has been issued as the storm is anticipated to pass just to the west of it.
Cristobal’s maximum sustained winds are 120 km/h. The storm is moving north at 19 km/h. The storm is expected to produce rainfall between 76 to 100 mm over Bermuda.
The Canadian Hurricane Centre has forecast that the storm will strengthen into a Category 2 by Wednesday. However, computer models forecast the storm to pass south of Newfoundland and crossing the Grand Banks by Friday.
Although the storm is not anticipated to affect land, there is the possibility that could change, depending on the storm’s interaction with a cold front that will be over Newfoundland.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Marie is churning in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The storm was producing maximum sustained winds of 155 km/h making it a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Swells from the storm were affecting the Baja California peninsula and the southern Gulf of California.
Marie is expected to decay into a tropical storm by Wednesday.
–with files from The Associated Press
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