Late Tuesday night, local time, US President Donald Trump announced a state of emergency for Puerto Rico, which is an autonomous territory. Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazques, who was appointed earlier in August, announced the state of emergency as early as Monday.

"We are better prepared now than when Hurricane Maria attacked our island," she said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Hard hit area

Puerto Rico has struggled to recover from hurricanes Maria and Irma, which in 2017 killed about 3,000 people. It happened just months after the territory filed for bankruptcy to restructure a debt of $ 120 million, equivalent to around SEK 116 million, the Reuters news agency writes.

"Wow! Another big storm is on its way to Puerto Rico. Will it ever end? Congress approved $ 92 billion for Puerto Rico last year, a record of its kind, ”Trump wrote on his Twitter account Tuesday.

The Washington Post, which reports that Congress has allocated $ 42.7 billion, but that less than $ 14 million has actually reached the island, is in conflict. The higher figure that Trump mentions is an estimate of storm-related costs for the next 20 years, according to the newspaper.

When the later Bahamas

Dorian is expected to weaken somewhat after crossing Puerto Rico - to once again become stronger when the storms reach the Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as the southern parts of the Bahamas, on Thursday and Friday, according to Reuters.

From June to November, it is the hurricane season in the Atlantic. On average, a season produces about a dozen storms along the US coast, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. The majority remain at sea, but some become hurricanes and strike land.