SANTA CRUZ DAS FLORES, Portugal: Hurricane Gabrielle is forecast to batter the Portuguese Azores archipelago on Thursday with winds of 200 kilometers (124 miles) per hour and waves higher than 10 meters (33 feet).
“The archipelago will feel the first effects from late Thursday afternoon,” the Portuguese meteorological office (IPMA) said in its latest update on the popular tourist destination.
Gabrielle, which was still classified as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday evening, is expected to lose momentum and reach the Azores from the west as a Category 1 hurricane, the IPMA said.
Later becoming a “post-tropical depression,” Gabrielle will make landfall in mainland Portugal on Saturday.
On Thursday night, the eye of the storm will barrel through the Azores’ two western islands and then its five central islands, which are on red alert.
The regional government has ordered schools and public buildings on the seven islands of the Western and Central Groups to close for 24 hours from 6:00 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).
The Eastern Group, comprising the two remaining islands in the archipelago and a cluster of islets, have not received similar orders.
Winds could attain 150 kph in the western islands of Flores and Corvo before strengthening to up to 200 kph in the central islands of Faial, Pico, Sao Jorge, Terceira and Graciosa.
The ocean is expected to be rough with swells of eight to 10 meters. Waves could reach heights of 14-18 meters.
The regional civil protection service has urged islanders to limit their movements to those strictly necessary, avoid all activity at sea and secure their homes by strengthening roofs, doors and windows.
The district of Santa Cruz das Flores, in the north of Flores island, remained calm on Thursday morning but local fishermen said they were afraid violent waves would damage the port.
Firefighters in Flores told an AFP photographer they were worried that the intense rainfall forecast for the evening might trigger landslides.
Portugal’s Azores brace for Hurricane Gabrielle
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Portugal’s Azores brace for Hurricane Gabrielle
- “The archipelago will feel the first effects from late Thursday afternoon,” the Portuguese meteorological office said
- On Thursday night, the eye of the storm will barrel through the Azores’ two western islands and then its five central islands, which are on red alert
Ukraine says received 1,003 bodies from Russia
- The Russian side had received the remains of 26 killed Russian soldiers
KYIV: Kyiv said on Friday that it had received from Russia more than 1,000 remains of people that Moscow said were Ukrainian soldiers killed fighting the Kremlin’s army.
The exchange of prisoners of war and the remains of killed soldiers is one of the few remaining areas of cooperation between Kyiv and Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“Today, repatriation activities took place. 1,003 bodies, which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian servicemen, have been returned to Ukraine,” Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said in a statement on social media.
Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky confirmed an exchange between Moscow and Kyiv had taken place, writing on Telegram that the Russian side had received the remains of 26 killed Russian soldiers.
Medinsky said the exchange was made possible as part of agreements struck between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul earlier this year.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since Russia invaded, though neither side regularly publishes data on their own casualties.
