VIDEO: Cape Verde Islands escape major damage from Hurricane Fred
The first hurricane to pass over Cape Verde caused flooding, uprooted trees and tore off some roofs but caused no major damage or injuries, according to authorities in the West African islands.
Arlindo Lima, head of the country’s Civil Protection Service, said that Hurricane Fred lashed the former Portuguese colony with high winds, knocking out power in some areas of the 10-island archipelago, while heavy rain forced the closure of some roads.
Video recorded at Island of Sal in #CapeVerde. Hurricane #Fred is forecast to gradually weaken from Tuesday onwards. pic.twitter.com/OmXSezc95r
— Zenaida Machado (@zenaidamz) August 31, 2015
Authorities closed ports and airports as Fred approached on Monday.
We 'see' inside Hurricane Fred, the easternmost hurricane in the tropical Atlantic Ocean: http://t.co/t8ri27Rqe0 pic.twitter.com/jbrghZ1bQ1
— NASA (@NASA) August 31, 2015
The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami later downgraded Fred – the eastern-most hurricane known to have formed in the Atlantic tropics – to a tropical storm.
Cape Verde, which is about 350 miles off West Africa’s coast, has a population of around 512,000.
