Dominica PM: Hurricane Maria 'devastates' island - CNN - CNN.com
www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/americas/atlantic-storms-maria-jose-lee/index.html
13 hours ago - Category 5 hurricane heads toward Puerto Rico ... The powerful storm, which made landfall Monday night, has since been downgraded ... comes close to that of Hurricane Andrew -- 165 mph -- when it hit southern Florida. ... Hours before Maria's expected landfall on Dominica -- and just over week after the ...
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Hurricane Maria gets even stronger as it barrels toward Puerto Rico ...
www.cnn.com/2017/09/19/americas/hurricane-maria-caribbean-islands/index.html
Hurricane Maria gets even stronger as it barrels toward Puerto Rico
Story highlights
- Businesses in Puerto Rico are shuttering for the storm
- At least 1 man is dead and 2 people are missing after Maria struck Guadeloupe
(CNN)Hurricane Maria's destructive tear across the Caribbean is well underway, with the storm obliterating parts of Dominica, killing at least one person in Guadeloupe and threatening "catastrophic" damage to Puerto Rico.
Maria strengthened once again Tuesday afternoon and is now hurling 165 mph (265 kph) winds as it moves in on St. Croix.
"No
generation has seen a hurricane like this since San Felipe II in 1928,"
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Tuesday. "This is an
unprecedented atmospheric system."
Rosselló
urged Puerto Ricans to find safe shelters immediately, as emergency
workers "will not be available to help you once the winds reach 50 mph."
"We
need to keep in mind that we must also protect the lives of these first
responders. It's time to act and look for a safe place if you live in
flood-prone areas or in wooden or vulnerable structures," Rosselló said.
Maria has already killed one
man in Guadeloupe after he ignored orders to stay inside and was struck
by a falling tree, the island's government said.
Two
other people are missing after a boat sank off the coast of La
Désirade, a smaller island near the mainland of Guadeloupe. The
government said about 80,000 people, or 40% of the households on the
island, are without power.
Hurricane Maria caused widespread flooding Tuesday in Point-A-Pitre, Guadeloupe.
The Category 5 storm also caused "widespread devastation" in Dominica, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said Tuesday.
The hurricane shredded the prime minister's house overnight and left much of the island -- population 73,000 -- in ruins.
NASA watches Maria intensify from space 00:50
"So
far we have lost all what money can buy and replace," Skerrit posted on
Facebook Tuesday. He said his greatest fear was "news of serious
physical injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides
triggered by persistent rains."
A
few hours earlier, the Prime Minister posted, "My roof is gone. I am at
the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding."
Maria
is now the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in Dominica, a
former French and British colony whose economy relies heavily on
tourism and agriculture.
Now, Maria is taking aim on Puerto Rico and Islands already crippled by Hurricane Irma.
'Don't go out under any circumstances'
As
of Tuesday afternoon, Maria was centered about 85 miles (175
kilometers) southeast of St. Croix -- putting the island within reach of
Maria's tropical-storm force winds -- and was headed west-northwest at
10 mph. At the speed it was going, Maria was less than 24 hours from San
Juan.
While
Maria moves closer to St. Croix, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico,
preparations against life-threatening storm surge, flooding and
destructive winds "should be rushed to completion,' the National
Hurricane Center said.
Puerto Rico
said its biggest airport, the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
near San Juan, will close at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday. Airports in Ponce and
Aguadilla will close today at 6 p.m.
A
hurricane warning is in effect Tuesday for Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis,
Montserrat, the US and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Culebra,
Vieques and part of the Dominican Republic.
"A
dangerous storm surge accompanied by large and destructive waves will
raise water levels by as much as 7 to 11 feet above normal tide levels
in the hurricane warning area near where the center of Maria moves
across the Leeward Islands and the British Virgin Islands," the
hurricane center said.
Guadeloupe's regional government tweeted a stern warning to residents Tuesday: "Don't go out under any circumstances."
Puerto Rico says Maria 'will be catastrophic'
Maria
will pummel the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Tuesday night and
Wednesday as "an extremely dangerous Category 4 or 5 hurricane," the
National Hurricane Center said.
That would make Maria the first Category 4 or 5 hurricane to make landfall in Puerto Rico in 85 years.
In the capital city of San Juan, residents cleared store shelves of water and other supplies.
A CNN producer who was
driving from the airport Tuesday said there were still some vehicles on
the road. Of the two gas stations she passed, one was open. Many shops
were already closed, she observed.
Some
tourists from California told her that the hostel they are staying at
moved them to an interior room when the men were unable to find flights
home.
Gov. Rosselló has declared a
state of emergency. And US President Donald Trump issued an emergency
declaration for Puerto Rico to aid with federal assistance.
Puerto
Rico sheltered many of the evacuees who fled from other Caribbean
Islands during Hurricane Irma earlier this month. Now those evacuees and
native Puerto Ricans are bracing for devastation.
"This
is an event that will be damaging to the infrastructure, that will be
catastrophic," Rosselló said. "Our only focus right now should be to
make sure we save lives."
The governor said 500 shelters are available on the island.
"We
expect to feel storm winds, tropical storm winds, (from) Tuesday up
until late on Thursday. That's about two-and-a-half days of tropical
storm winds," Rosselló said.
"On Wednesday we will feel the brunt -- all of the island will feel the brunt of sustained Category 4 or 5 winds."
The
Puerto Rico Convention Center in the capital San Juan to the north --
which is still housing Hurricane Irma evacuees from other Caribbean
islands -- is preparing to accept thousands of residents as the worst of
the storm is felt.
Martinique largely spared
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean
One
bit of good news emerged from the Caribbean: The French island of
Martinique suffered no major damage, the French Interior Ministry
tweeted Tuesday.
Maria knocked out
power to about 50,000 homes, and 10,000 homes had no water. But
overall, the damage assessment was "reassuring," the French Interior
Ministry said.
The director general of French civil security, Jacques Witkowski, said only two people on Martinique suffered minor injuries.
Rapid intensification
In
just 30 hours, Maria's intensity exploded from 65 mph on Sunday to 160
mph by Monday night, the National Hurricane Center said.
The
British Foreign Office said more than 1,300 troops are on standby,
either on affected islands or in nearby locations, ready to help after
Maria tears through.
One military
team has been deployed to the British Virgin Islands, and a British
military reconnaissance team is on standby to go to the British
territory of Montserrat.
The HMS Ocean is set to arrive in the area at week's end with 60 tons of government supplies.
Another
hurricane, Jose, is also churning in the Atlantic and has spawned
tropical storm warnings for part of the US East Coast.
While
forecasters don't anticipate Jose making landfall in the US, it's still
expected to cause "dangerous surf and rip currents" along the East
Coast in the next few days, the hurricane center said.
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