MARIA TURNS ‘POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC’
▶ Category 5 hurricane hits residents on eastern Caribbean islands reeling from Irma’s $1bn trail of destruction
Hurricane Maria strengthened into a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 storm as it moved into eastern Caribbean islands still reeling from Irma, forcing residents to flee in powerful winds and lashing rain.
Maria, a maximum-strength storm, hit the island of Dominica early yesterday with winds of up to 260kph, the US national hurricane centre said.
Dangerous storm surges, flash floods and mudslides threatened the Leeward Islands – the group that includes Martinique, Puerto Rico and the US and British Virgin islands – the centre said.
The NHC earlier said that “preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion” as the eye of the storm approached Dominica.
Guadeloupe – the bridgehead for aid for Irma-hit French territories – ordered all residents to take shelter in a maximum-level “violet alert” effective from 8pm as powerful rains drenched the French Caribbean island. St Kitts, Nevis, the British island of Montserrat, Culebra and Vieques were also on alert.
On Martinique, which is also part of France, energy supplier EDF said power had been cut off from 16,000 homes, although a hurricane warning on the island was later downgraded to a tropical storm. In rain-lashed St Lucia, which also faced a tropical storm warning, flooding, mudslides and power failures were reported.
In Dominica, prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit said his roof had been blown off, his house was flooded and he was “at the complete mercy of the hurricane”.
“Rough! Rough! Rough!” he wrote on his Facebook page. He later posted a message to sat that he had been rescued.
The island’s airport and ports were closed, and the local water company shut down its systems to filter debris from its protect its intakes.
Dominica schoolteacher Leandra Lander said she had collected water and ensured her important documents were safe. “Just ready to ride out storm at best. With a little prayer on the side,” she said.
In Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, Elodie Corte, the owner of a
In Dominica, prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit said his roof had been blown off
metalworking company, said there had been frantic preparations to limit storm damage.
“We spent the morning strapping down the aluminium to stop it from flying away if the winds are strong,” she said.
But she worried that the torrential rains forecast could flood her home.
“We’ll seal everything as tightly as we can and then we will go and stay with friends for the night,” she said.
Criticised over 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 as Maria approaches.
“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 the latest storm.
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,” a local official said.
The Dutch navy tweeted that troops were heading to the two tiny neighbouring islands of Saba and St Eustatius to ensure security after widespread complaints after the first hurricane of looting and lawlessness on St Martin, which was among the worst hit by Irma, with 14 people killed.
Irma broke weather records when it whipped up winds of 295kph for more than 33 hours without a break, before finally running out of steam off the coast of New England.
Another hurricane, Jose, is also active in the Atlantic at the moment, and has triggered tropical storm warnings for the north-east United States.