Hurricane Maria yesterday smashed into the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica, with its prime minister describing devastating damage as winds and rain from the powerful storm also hit territories still reeling from Hurricane Irma.
As residents hunkered down in their homes the Category Five hurricane made landfall with top winds swirling at 257kph per hour, the US National Hurricane Center said.
The storm plowed through Dominica, an island nation of 72,000 people, late on Monday causing widespread devastation, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a Facebook post.
Photo: AFP
“I am honestly not preoccupied with physical damage at this time, because it is devastating ... indeed, mind boggling. My focus now is in rescuing the trapped and securing medical assistance for the injured,” he wrote.
“The winds have swept away the roofs of almost every person I have spoken to or otherwise made contact with,” Skerrit said. “The roof to my own official residence was among the first to go and this apparently triggered an avalanche of torn-away roofs in the city and the countryside.”
“We have lost all what money can buy and replace,” he said.
After being rescued Skerrit appealed for “help of all kinds,” but said specifically that helicopters would be needed so that authorities could survey the damage.
Maria has been downgraded to an “extremely dangerous” Category Four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, but could strengthen again as it races north toward the British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
If Maria retains its strength, it would be the most powerful hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in 85 years, since a Category 4 storm swept the US territory in 1932, hurricane center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.
The center warned of dangerous storm surges, destructive waves, flash floods and mudslides and warned that “preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion.”
The French territory of Guadeloupe — the bridgehead for aid for Irma-hit French territories — ordered all residents to take shelter in a maximum-level “violet alert.”
Heavy rain lashed the island and several areas were without power yesterday morning.
The Dominican Republic, the east coast of which was battered by Irma, ordered citizens in part of the north to evacuate ahead of Maria’s arrival, expected today.
St Kitts, Nevis, the British island of Montserrat, Culebra and Vieques were also on alert.
Martinique, a French island south of Dominica, suffered power cuts, but avoided major damage as the storm skirted its shores, while flooding, mudslides and power outages were reported in parts of St Lucia.
Criticized for the pace of relief efforts in their overseas territories devastated by Irma, Britain, France and the Netherlands said they were boosting resources for the Caribbean.
“We are planning for the unexpected, we are planning for the worst,” said Chris Austin, head of a UK military task force set up to deal with Irma, as the British Virgin Islands readied for a new onslaught.
On the island of St Martin, which is split between France and the Netherlands, authorities announced a red alert ahead of Maria’s arrival.
“We’re watching its trajectory very closely, and we’re preparing for the worst-case scenario,” local official Anne Laubies said.
In Guadeloupe’s biggest city, Pointe-a-Pitre, Elodie Corte, the boss of a metalworking company, said there had been frantic preparations to limit the damage from the storm.
“We spent the morning strapping down the aluminum to stop it from flying away if the winds are strong,” she said on Monday.
The Dutch navy tweeted that troops were heading to the two tiny neighboring islands of Saba and St Eustatius to ensure security following widespread complaints after the first hurricane of looting and lawlessness on St Martin, among the worst hit by Irma, with 14 killed.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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