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Hurricane Maria knocks out power to all of Puerto Rico, cripples other ...
www.cnn.com/2017/09/20/americas/hurricane-maria-caribbean-islands/index.html
3 mins ago - (CNN) Now that Hurricane Maria has moved past Puerto Rico, search and rescue teams are taking to the darkened streets of an island almost ...
In pictures: Hurricane Maria pummels Puerto Rico - CNN.com
www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/09/world/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-cnnphotos/
Puerto Rico was slammed Wednesday by Hurricane Maria, the strongest storm to make landfall there in 85 years.
Emergency crews in Puerto Rico set out on darkened streets
Story highlights
- More than 10,000 people still in Puerto Rican shelters
- Seven people were killed on Dominica, officials say
(CNN)Now
that Hurricane Maria has moved past Puerto Rico, search and rescue
teams are taking to the darkened streets of an island almost completely
without power.
The
devastating winds had died down to a whisper late Wednesday and the
flooding rains were just a drizzle, but getting around was difficult due
to widespread damage and no electricity except from generators.
"We are 100% without power," a spokesman for the Puerto Rico governor's office said Wednesday.
The storm caused widespread flooding and ripped trees out of the ground. More than 10,000 remained in shelters Wednesday night.
"This
is total devastation," said Carlos Mercader, a spokesman for Puerto
Rico's governor. "Puerto Rico, in terms of the infrastructure, will not
be the same. ... This is something of historic proportions."
Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A street is flooded in Pointe-a-Pitre, on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People stand near debris at a restaurant in Le Carbet, Martinique, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, board up windows of a business on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A boat is overturned off the shore of Sainte-Anne, Guadeloupe, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Cars line up at a gas station in Santurce, Puerto Rico, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A motorist drives on the flooded waterfront in Fort-de-France, Martinique, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Floodwaters surround cars in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Soldiers patrol a street in Marigot, St. Martin, as preparations were made for Maria on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People buy provisions in Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, as the hurricane approached on Monday, September 18.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Customers wait in line for power generators at a store in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on September 18.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Trees
are toppled outside the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, on Wednesday, September 20. Hurricane Maria is churning through
the Caribbean, threatening islands that were already crippled by Hurricane Irma earlier this month.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Members of a rescue team embrace as they wait to help in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on September 20.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A tree is damaged in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on September 20.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Debris is strewn across a Fajardo street on September 20.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A woman closes her property in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, hours before Maria's arrival.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People take shelter at Puerto Rico's Humacao Arena on Tuesday, September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Two girls play on cots at the Humacao Arena.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Waves crash in San Juan as the hurricane neared Puerto Rico on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People pray in Humacao on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A street is flooded in Pointe-a-Pitre, on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People stand near debris at a restaurant in Le Carbet, Martinique, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, board up windows of a business on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A boat is overturned off the shore of Sainte-Anne, Guadeloupe, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Cars line up at a gas station in Santurce, Puerto Rico, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A motorist drives on the flooded waterfront in Fort-de-France, Martinique, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Floodwaters surround cars in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Soldiers patrol a street in Marigot, St. Martin, as preparations were made for Maria on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People buy provisions in Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, as the hurricane approached on Monday, September 18.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Customers wait in line for power generators at a store in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on September 18.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Trees
are toppled outside the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, on Wednesday, September 20. Hurricane Maria is churning through
the Caribbean, threatening islands that were already crippled by Hurricane Irma earlier this month.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Members of a rescue team embrace as they wait to help in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on September 20.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A tree is damaged in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on September 20.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Debris is strewn across a Fajardo street on September 20.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A woman closes her property in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, hours before Maria's arrival.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People take shelter at Puerto Rico's Humacao Arena on Tuesday, September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Two girls play on cots at the Humacao Arena.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
Waves crash in San Juan as the hurricane neared Puerto Rico on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
People pray in Humacao on September 19.
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Photos: Hurricane Maria hits the Caribbean
A street is flooded in Pointe-a-Pitre, on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, on September 19.
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A
nightly curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. will take effect Wednesday evening
and end Saturday morning, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced.
There were no immediate reports of injuries in Puerto Rico, a US territory with 3.3 million people
Maria
weakened to a Category 2 hurricane Wednesday afternoon, with winds of
110 mph, but is expected to gain strength with the core back over warm
water.
Maria is next expected to
pass by the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands, causing
dangerous storm surge and rainfall.
The
once-major hurricane has already killed seven people on the Caribbean
island nation of Dominica, said Gaston Browne, the Prime Minister of
Antigua and Barbuda.
Browne said he had been communicating with the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, who reported "widespread devastation" and whose own house was shredded by the storm.
Hurricane Maria obliterated homes on the island of Dominica.
Puerto
Rican Olympic gymnast Tommy Ramos, who was riding out the storm in the
northern city of Vega Baja, posted video of gusts blowing debris in
front of him.
"The house is steady," Ramos told CNN. "What scares us is the flooding."
Astriv Velez, who survived
the storm inside a walk-in closet, said water was coming in through the
walls of her home in Trujillo Alto, just outside San Juan.
"The wind and rain has not stopped," Velez said. "There are no trees, there is no green -- only brown."
She
said she's worried about whether a dam near her home will hold up. "It
will be very catastrophic if that dam breaks," she said.
Devastation in St. Croix and St. Thomas
Maria obliterated homes on several other Caribbean islands.
Aaliyah Bisamber of St. Croix shot video of Maria's annihilation of her old house, which was right next to her new home.
"I was pretty amazed the hurricane had such power to rip off half the house," she told CNN.
Murillo Melo recently moved to St. Croix from Brazil -- only to face one of the island's most catastrophic hurricanes.
"It was really scary. The floors were shaking, the walls, everything was moving and shaking," he said.
"Here
on the island and on the mainland people are trying to get in contact
with friends and relatives. ... People are desperate to get some news
from their friends and relatives."
US Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft said the damage to St. Croix is especially alarming.
"First
priority is going to be saving of lives -- not just in Puerto Rico, US
Virgin Islands -- I'm especially concerned with St. Croix, that was also
in the path of Hurricane Maria when it was a Category 5 hurricane,"
Zukunft said Wednesday.
On the US Virgin Island of St. Thomas, retired New York police detective Austin Fields surveyed the damage to his home.
"My home is no longer a home," he said.
On Dominica, which Maria smashed earlier this week, the devastation is immense, a CNN crew flying over the island reported. Hundreds of homes have been visibly flattened or damaged. Many had roofs torn off.
The
landscape has been stripped bare. Thousands of trees have been snapped
at their base and those still standing devoid of leaves. Dominica was a
lush green landscape, including rainforests, but now is brown and
lifeless.
Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic under the gun
Maria's wrath is far from over.
A
hurricane warning is in effect for the Turks and Caicos, the
southeastern Bahamas and parts of the Dominican Republic, where strong
winds are expected to hit Wednesday night, forecasters said.
Dangerous storm surges
"accompanied by large and destructive waves" will raise water levels 10
to 15 feet above normal tide levels in the hurricane warning areas of
the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, the hurricane center
said. The islands could also see as much as 20 inches of rain.
Some
long-range models say Maria could move toward the North Carolina coast
as it moves north. CNN Meteorologist Tom Sater said people should keep
an eye on the storm.
Radars knocked out
Maria became the first hurricane of Category 4 strength or higher in 85 years to make a direct landfall on Puerto Rico.
The hurricane slammed the US territory with such intensity, it broke two National Weather Service radars there.
Roseau, Dominica, one of many towns devastated by Hurricane Maria.
Are
you affected by Hurricane Maria? Text, iMessage or WhatsApp your
videos, photos and stories to CNN -- but only if it's safe to do so: +1
347-322-041. Or tag your posts on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter with
#CNNweather.
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