Puerto Rico braces for Maria’s wrath
PUERTO RICO: Residents of Puerto Rico were bracing for a possible direct hit from Hurricane Maria yesterday, the latest powerful storm to barrel across the Atlantic Ocean while menacing the islands of the Caribbean and threatening the United States.
Service stations had run out of fuel and people scrambled to book last-minute flights out of harm’s way in advance of Maria, which had strengthened to a massive Category 5 hurricane with potentially catastrophic winds.
The storm caused widespread damage in the island nation of Dominica this week and is blamed for at least one death on the French island of Guadeloupe.
Forecasters say the hurricane is on track to pummel the island of St Croix in the US Virgin Islands, followed by an expected path through Puerto Rico, home to 3.5 million US citizens.
The island has not seen a hurricane make landfall since Georges in 1998, and it narrowly missed taking the brunt of Hurricane Irma just days ago when that storm passed to the north on its way to Florida.
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello called Maria potentially historic and warned residents to take it seriously.
Authorities pre-emptively dredged out canals to funnel away floodwaters, set up 500 emergency shelters and urged residents to stock up on food and water.
’’This is an unprecedented atmospheric system,’’ Rossello said. ’’It’s time to act and look for a safe place if you live in flood-prone areas or in wooden or vulnerable structures.’’
The National Weather Service had called Maria ‘‘potentially catastrophic’’, with rainfall that could total more than 600 millimetres. Some locations, it said, could be ‘‘uninhabitable for weeks or months.’’
The grave warnings echo those delivered by authorities in Florida, Texas and other areas ahead of devastating hurricanes in recent weeks that have claimed dozens of lives in the US and the Caribbean.
The 2017 hurricane season already has featured four storms registering at Category 4 or higher, putting it on par with some of the most intense seasons in US history – with more than two months remaining.