Hurricane Maria, the latest dangerous storm to hit the Caribbean

“Sooner or later, we’re going to lose electricity and water because the system here is really behind in that type of service”, she said.

“It’s starting to rain but I know that’s going to be coming, this weather is going to be coming – there’s a little wind coming as well”. The island’s power plants were not severely damaged.

Puerto Rico is home to over 3.5 million Americans, who were told Tuesday by Gov. Ricardo Rossello, “It’s time to hold on and stay safe”.

Maria hit Puerto Rico as the third strongest storm to make landfall in the United States based on a key measurement meteorologists use: air pressure.

Maria made its first landfall on Dominica as a Category 5 storm around 9:15 p.m. Monday.

Officials have urged residents to seek shelter and warned that the category 4 storm’s powerful winds would be life-threatening. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. “Effects such as potential flooding and high winds that can turn debris into risky projectiles can have a greater and more treacherous impact for us”.

The US National Hurricane Center described Maria as “potentially catastrophic” as it pushed northwest towards the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

It is expected to be a category 4 storm when the eye passes over the island, with winds in excess of 150 miles per hour, storm surges up to nine feet, and more than a foot of rain. “Slow weakening is expected after the hurricane emerges over the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic”.

In response to the threat to the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, warnings from the National Hurricane Center have become increasingly dire during the last 48 hours.

The storm is moving roughly along the same track as Irma, this season’s other category five hurricane.

Hurricane Jose meanwhile is also moving along the Eastern coast of the U.S., and it’s expected to stay a hurricane levels through Tuesday.

It came barely two weeks after Hurricane Irma destroyed buildings and caused widespread power loss. If realized, that would make it the costliest-ever USA national disaster.