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Two tropical storms a potential double threat to Gulf Coast

Published:Sunday | August 23, 2020 | 12:34 AM
AP This satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Storm Laura in the North Atlantic Ocean, Friday, August 21, 2020. Laura formed Friday in the eastern Caribbean and forecasters said it poses a pot
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AP This satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Storm Laura in the North Atlantic Ocean, Friday, August 21, 2020. Laura formed Friday in the eastern Caribbean and forecasters said it poses a potential hurricane threat to Florida and the US Gulf Coast. A second storm also may hit the US after running into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

SAN JUAN (AP):

Two tropical storms advanced across the Caribbean yesterday as potentially historic threats to the US Gulf Coast, one dumping rain on Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands while the other was pushing through the gap between Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba.

Tropical Storms Laura and Marco were both projected to approach the US Gulf Coast at or close to hurricane force. The current, uncertain track would take them to Texas or Louisiana.

Two hurricanes have never appeared in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time, according to records going back to at least 1900, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. The last time two tropical storms were in the Gulf together was in 1959, he said.

The last time two storms made landfall in the United States within 24 hours of each other was in 1933, Klotzbach said.

The projected track from the US National Hurricane Center would put both storms together in the Gulf on Tuesday, with Marco hitting Texas and Laura making landfall a little less than a day later, though both tracks remain uncertain.

Laura was already flinging rain across Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands yesterday morning and was expected to drench the Dominican Republic, Haiti and parts of Cuba during the day on its westward course.

Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez declared a state of emergency and warned that flooding could be worse than what Tropical Storm Isaias unleashed three weeks ago because the ground is now saturated.

The storm was centred about 40 miles (65) kilometres west-southwest of Ponce on Puerto Rico’s central southern coast at midday, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph). It was moving west at 18 mph (65 kph).

Marco, meanwhile, was strengthening while centred about 105 miles (170 kilometres east of Cozumel island, headed to the north-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph). It was expected to become a hurricane.

STAY FAR APART

The Hurricane Center said it expects the storms to stay far enough apart to prevent direct interaction as the region braces for the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, which is forecast to be unusually active.

Both storms were expected to bring three to six inches (eight to 15 centimetres) of rain to areas they were passing over or near, threatening widespread flooding across a vast region.

Forecasters said that while atmospheric conditions are favourable for Laura to grow, its passage over Puerto Rico and the mountains of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba could tear it apart or weaken it before it enters warm Gulf waters conducive to growth.

Laura had earlier forced the closure of schools and government offices in the eastern Caribbean islands of Anguilla and Antigua, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency.