HURRICANE MARIA BEARS DOWN ON BATTERED CARIBBEAN.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO •Hurricane Maria intensified into a dangerous Category 5 storm and pounded the small island of Dominica as it surged into the eastern Caribbean on Monday night, and forecasters warned it might become even stronger.

The storm was following a path that could take it on Tuesday near many of the islands recently devastated by hurricane Irma and then head toward a possible direct strike on Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

A series of Facebook posts by Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit captured the fury of the storm as it made landfall on the mountainous island.

“The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God,” Skerrit wrote at the start of a series of increasingly harrowing posts.

A few minutes later, he messaged he could hear the sound of galvanized steel roofs tearing off houses on the small rugged island.

He then wrote that he thought his home had been damaged. And three words: “Rough! Rough! Rough!”

A half-hour later, he wrote: “My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding.”

Seven minutes later he posted that he had been rescued.

It was the first official word from Dominica after the eye wall moved ashore.

Officials on nearby Guadeloupe said the French island would experience extremely heavy flooding and warned that many communities could be submerged overnight.

In Martinique, authorities ordered people to remain indoors and said they should prepare for cuts to power and water. Schools and nonessential public services were closed.

With Puerto Rico appearing destined for a hit, officials in the U.S. territory warned residents of wooden or otherwise flimsy homes to find safe shelter.

“You have to evacuate. Otherwise you’re going to die,” said Hector Pesquera, Puerto Rico’s public safety commissioner. “I don’t know how to make this any clearer.”

Hurricane warnings were posted for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat and Martinique. A tropical storm warning was issued for Antigua and Barbuda, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Anguilla.

Forecasters said storm surge could raise water levels by 1.8 to 2.7 metres near the storm’s centre.

The storm was predicted to bring 25 to 38 centimetres of rain across the islands, with more in isolated areas.

The storm’s hurricaneforce winds extended out about 35 kilometres from the eye, and tropical stormforce winds out as far as 205 kilometres.