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Americas: Tropical Storm Isaac and Hurricane Florence Information Bulletin N° 2

Pays
Antigua-et-Barbuda
+ 13
Sources
IFRC
Date de publication
Origine
Voir l'original

This bulletin is being issued for information only; it reflects the current situation and details available at this time.

The situation

Tropical Storm Isaac

According to the United States of America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Hurricane Centre (NHC), Tropical Storm Isaac continued to track westward and toward the Caribbean on Wednesday morning (12 September 2018) on a path that could bring it across the Lesser Antilles by Thursday, 13 September 2018.

As of 5 PM Atlantic Standard Team (AST) (1800 Coordinated Universal Time [UTC]) today, Tropical Storm Isaac was located about 295 miles (480 km) east of Martinique, and it was moving west at 20 mph (31 km/hr.), according to the National Hurricane Centre. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles (280 km), primarily to the north of the storm’s centre. Isaac had wind speeds of 60 mph (95 km/h). The storm is expected to weaken gradually over the next few days, and it is forecast to move across the central Lesser Antilles and into the eastern Caribbean Sea on Thursday (13 September 2018) and then move across the eastern and central Caribbean Sea through Saturday, 15 September 2018.

HURRICANE FLORENCE

The NHC issued an alert at 2 PM Atlantic Standard Team AST (1500 UTC) on 10 September 2018 that Hurricane Florence’s centre was located near latitude 30.9 North, longitude 72.5 West. Florence is moving toward the northwest at around 16 mph (26 km/h), and this general motion, accompanied by a gradual decrease in forward speed, is expected to through Saturday. On the forecast track, Florence’s centre will move over the south-western Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and the Bahamas tonight, and it will approach the coast of North Carolina or South Carolina in the hurricane warning area on Thursday and Friday (14 September 2018) and move slowly near the coastline through Saturday. A reconnaissance aircraft found that maximum sustained winds have decreased to 125 mph (205 km/h) with higher gusts. Florence is now a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some fluctuations in strength will be possible through Thursday morning. Although slow weakening is expected to begin by late Thursday, Florence is still forecast to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it nears the U.S. coast late Thursday and Friday. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from the centre, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 195 miles (315 km). The minimum central pressure based on reports from the reconnaissance aircraft is estimated to be 949 mb (28.03 inches).