A frightening storm has been lashing South Padre Island.
This sentence means that South Padre Island is facing frightening storm for some time now. It is a recurring event. The use of present perfect continuous limits the duration of the event. That is, from the sentence, we know for sure that South Padre Island is facing the problem of the storm for some time now. But the storm may stop in future. It may not continue forever.
For example: The sun rises in the east. This is a universal truth. There is no way that sun can ever rise from any other direction in coming days. So, simple present is used to state that this action cannot be altered. The moment we say, The sun has been rising form the east, it will mean that so far the sun rises in the East, but in future, it may rise from west or north, or for that matter any direction.
Coming back to our sentence, if we say: A frightening storm lashes South Padre Island, this will mean that this event cannot be altered. South Padre Island is and will always be lashed by frightening storm. The statement becomes a universal truth. This changes the meaning od the statement.
So, the use of present perfect limits the scope of continuation of an event. It is used for events that may change in the future.
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