PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Portsmouth-based Mercy Chefs is deploying to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona brought widespread damage and power outages to the island.
The nonprofit said was expected to arrived in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria. They’ll provide clean water, hot meals and other support.
The island of 3.2 million people was still far from recovered from Maria when category 1 Fiona tore through over the weekend, with all of the island losing power and major rain and flash flooding.
At least one death had been reported due to the storm in the U.S. territory as of Tuesday morning.
Fiona has since increased in strength to a category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. It hit the Dominican Republic on Monday and was on track to go over the Turks and Caicos Islands next. It’s eventually expected to turn east and not impact the mainland U.S.
Mercy Chefs has been deployed to multiple places in the past year, including Ukraine and Kentucky. You can donate to help with relief efforts here.