No Script

Please Wait...

Al-Ahed Telegram

Hurricane Maria Pummels Small Caribbean Island of Dominica

Hurricane Maria Pummels Small Caribbean Island of Dominica
folder_openUnited States access_time6 years ago
starAdd to favorites

Local Editor

Hurricane Maria, the second Category 5 storm to hit the Caribbean this month, plowed into the small island nation of Dominica on Monday with roof-ripping fury on a collision course with the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico later this week.

Hurricane Maria Pummels Small Caribbean Island of Dominica

Hurricane Maria was upgraded Monday evening to the top of the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale when its maximum sustained winds reached 160 miles per hour, with higher gusts, the US National Hurricane Center [NHC] reported.

Less than 90 minutes later, the center of the storm, described by the NHC as "potentially catastrophic," passed almost directly over Dominica, on a track that would put it over Puerto Rico by Wednesday, according to the agency's latest bulletins.

There was no immediate word on the fate of Dominica, a former British colony home to 72,000 people that lies in the eastern Caribbean about halfway between the French islands of Guadeloupe, to the north, and Martinique, to the south.

Millions more in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, still reeling from Hurricane Irma earlier this month, have another day or two to prepare for the storm, forecasters said.

The governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, urged island residents on Twitter to brace for the storm's arrival, saying, "It is time to seek refuge with a family member, friend or head to a state shelter."

Puerto Rico narrowly avoided a direct hit two weeks ago from Hurricane Irma, which reached a rare Category 5 status and ranked as the most powerful Atlantic storm on record before devastating several smaller islands, including the US Virgin Islands of St. Thomas and St. John.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

Comments