America
Florida declares state of emergency ahead of storm
Washington, Aug 29
Florida Governor Rick Scott
declared on Friday a state of emergency ahead of a tropical storm which
was expected to hit the state from Sunday into next week and pose a
"severe threat to the entire state".
After dumping torrential
rain in the eastern Caribbean on Thursday, tropical storm "Erika" is
traversing the northeastern Carribean Sea with maximum sustained winds
of about 90 km per hour and the National Hurricane Centre has predicted
that from the upcoming Sunday to Wednesday, the storm will travel
through Florida's peninsula, said an executive order by the governor.
Four
people died and several others were missing as tropical storm Erika hit
the Caribbean island nation of Dominica on Thursday, according to
Xinhua.
A visually impaired senior citizen and two children were
killed when a mudslide crashed into their house in the southeast of the
island, and another man's body was found near his home following a
mudslide in the capital city of Roseau, according to reports monitored
in Kingston, Jamaica.
The storm has dumped a general rainfall of
about 15 inches (388 mm) on Dominica within 24 hours, unleashing serious
flooding and mudslides that damaged roads and houses. Electricity and
water supplies were cut in 80 percent of the island.