‘MARIA’ PUMMELS PUERTO RICO
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico yesterday and left the entire island without power as 150 mile-an-hour winds whipped the capital and sent thousands scurrying to shelters.
After killing at least nine people in the Caribbean, Maria slammed into Puerto Rico's southeast coast at daybreak before churning across the US territory which is home to 3.4 million people.
As tens of thousands of people hunkered down in shelters in the capital San Juan, Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz broke down in tears as she spoke of the utter devastation she had witnessed.
"Many parts of San Juan are completely flooded," Yulin Cruz told reporters in one of the shelters. Its roof swayed as she spoke.
"Our life as we know it has changed."
Maria made landfall as a Category Four storm on the five-point SaffirSimpson scale, initially packing winds of a little over 150 mph (240 kph) before easing slightly as it powered towards San Juan.
"The wind sounds like a woman screaming at the top of her lungs!" Mike Theiss wrote on Twitter, sheltering in a safe room in the eye of the storm.
"We are getting absolutely hammered right now."
Abner Gomez, director of the Puerto Rico State Agency for Emergency and Disaster Management, gave an apocalyptic assessment.
"When we are able to go outside, we are going to find our island destroyed."
Maria, he added, "has destroyed everything in its path."
"One hundred percent of the island is without electricity," Gomez said.