Quake-hit Haiti faces fresh threat from Tropical Depression Grace
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Image: NOAA
Grace weakened to a tropical depression on Sunday, but the threat of flooding and mudslides remains for earthquake-devastated Haiti.
Threat level: Grace was forecast to bring up to 10 inches of rainfall to Haiti and the Dominican Republic by Tuesday, per a National Hurricane Center advisory Monday morning. Its effects were expected to bring heavy rainfall to Florida later this week — which also faces the threat of a restrengthened Tropical Storm Fred.
- "Heavy rainfall across the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands may lead to flash, urban, and small stream flooding, with the potential for mudslides highest in Haiti and the Dominican Republic," NHC said early Monday morning.
- "Topical storm conditions are possible over portions of Hispaniola today and tonight," it added.
- A strengthening Fred, meanwhile, was forecast to move across the eastern and northern Gulf of Mexico through Monday, then make landfall in the western Florida Panhandle that afternoon or night, according to NHC.
- Fred as of Monday morning had maximum sustained winds of 60mph, per NHC.
The big picture: Grace formed early Saturday, some 400 miles east of the Leeward Islands, where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean.
- Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry declared a monthlong state of emergency following the quake Saturday.
- Fred formed as a tropical storm late Tuesday before weakening. It re-developed into a tropical storm over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico earlier Sunday.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for Florida's Panhandle region ahead of Fred's expected restrengthening into a tropical storm.
Go deeper: NOAA's updated hurricane outlook calls for even more storms in 2021
Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional details.
