Hurricane Maria is causing major damage in Puerto Rico on Wednesday after having slammed Dominica on Tuesday. The Category 4 storm, the biggest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years, was sustaining 155 mile per hour winds.
The Washington Post reported the storm knocked out power and water to nearly the entire population in Puerto Rico. By midmorning, Maria was snapping palm trees, peeling off rooftops and sending debris across beaches and roads.
U.S. President Trump on Sunday declared emergencies in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in advance of Maria and The Post reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has embedded workers across the U.S. territories in the Caribbean, including in parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands affected by Irma, to ensure residents have food and water before the storm.
The U.S. military is expected to assist Puerto Ricans after the storm hits, but it is mostly steering clear beforehand to avoid being caught up in it and unable to help, military officials said.
Recovery efforts in Puerto Rico could be hampered by long-standing financial problems that led the territorial government to file for a form of bankruptcy in May.
In Dominica, the Caribbean Tourism Organization reported that there has been a tremendous loss of housing and public buildings and that the main hospital was badly damaged. Many buildings serving as shelters lost roofs and little contact has been made with the outer communities. The airport can accommodate helicopter landings and the ports are calming and both are able to accept relief supplies.
The CTO said the urgent needs now are roofing materials for shelters, bedding supplies for hundreds stranded in or outside what’s left of their homes and food and water drops for residents of outlying districts inaccessible at the moment.
The eye of Hurricane Maria passed to the south of St. Kitts & Nevis Tuesday afternoon with the center located 90 miles west southwest of the islands. Rapid assessment teams are currently being deployed to determine the extent of disruption caused by the storm. All storm watches and warnings for St. Kitts & Nevis have been discontinued. Essential services are up and operating and St. Kitts’ Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport (SKB) will reopen Wednesday at 11 a.m., according to the CTO report.
The French archipelago of Guadeloupe is reporting that Hurricane Maria did not hit directly, but very strong winds and heavy precipitations were experienced across the five islands, especially in the south of Basse Terre, Les Saintes, and Marie Galante. Occasional flooding occurred in localized areas of Pointe-à-Pitre, Grande Terre. Crews are working to restore power and an official said things will be back to normal there withing two to three days.