Hurricane Maria grew stronger again in the warm Caribbean as it began to lash the Dominican Republic. The storm caused widspread destruction in Puerto Rico and continued to soak that island and the Virgin Islands with enough rain to cause life-threatening flash flooding, according to the National Hurricane Center's 8 a.m. ET update. The storm has left at least 10 people dead people in the Caribbean so far, according to The Associated Press, but more causalities were expected. The storm pounded Puerto Rico for hours as the third-strongest storm ever to hit US territory.
Puerto Rico's mountainous terrain slowed down Maria a bit earlier, but the National Hurricane Center reported in its 8 a.m. ET update Thursday morning that Maria had once again become a major, Category 3 hurricane, with sustained winds of 115 mph with higher gusts. Early reports from Puerto Rico described intense damage. Cellphone communications failed as towers went down. The Puerto Rican emergency-management agency said 100% of the island was without power and that Maria had damaged "everything in its path," according to reports.
0 Comments