After a remarkably quiet hurricane season to date, Fiona is gaining strength as it passes over Grand Turk Island

Fiona has become the first major hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, according to an update from the National Hurricane Center.

The storm is currently passing over Grand Turk Island as a category 3 storm and is currently expected to track towards Bermuda as it intensifies to a category 4 Hurricane. with wind speeds of up to 156 mph, according to Tropical Storm Risk.

So far, outer bands from Fiona have produced heavy rain over mostly coastal and eastern sections of the Dominican Republic and in local portions of southern Puerto Rico.

Heavy rains around the center of Fiona are also impacting Turks and Caicos with continued life-threatening flooding, warns NHC. Localised additional flash and urban flooding is possible in the southern portion of Puerto Rico.

Hurricane conditions are spreading over the Turks and Caicos islands, while tropical storm conditions should spread over the southeastern Bahamas during the next few hours.