WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon, blacking out the entire U.S. island territory.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) updated the center of Hurricane Fiona had made landfall along the extreme southwestern coast of Puerto Rico at 3:20 p.m. AST (1920 GMT).
The latest public advisory from the NHC said Hurricane Fiona -- with maximum sustained winds at 140 km per hour -- is moving just west of Puerto Rico and heading for the Dominican Republic while "causing catastrophic flooding."
Heavy rains from Hurricane Fiona are forecast to continue across Puerto Rico through Sunday night and occur over the Dominican Republic later on Monday.
The system may produce 12 to 18 inches of rain, with a local maximum of 30 inches in Puerto Rico, particularly across the eastern and southern portions of the island.
These rainfall amounts will "produce catastrophic life-threatening flash floods and urban flooding," according to NHC updates.
Governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi tweeted Sunday afternoon that the entire electric system was out of service.
Nearly 1.5 million utility customers were left without power, said PowerOutage.us.
