MONSTER MARIA LASHES PUERTO RICO
Maria blows into P.R. – emergency declared
PUERTO RICANS counted their blessings two weeks ago when one of the biggest storms to ever form in the Atlantic skirted past — but on Tuesday residents of the U.S. territory prepared for the worst with a direct hit from Hurricane Maria just hours away.
The usually bustling streets of San Juan were eerily empty, nearby beaches abandoned as residents heeded the warnings of officials who said the storm, already wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, could be the worst the island has seen in a century.
Rains lashed the island late Tuesday as the storm’s outer bands began to circle overhead.
“Now is the time to urgently hide from the wind. Failure to adequately shelter may result in serious injury, loss of life, or immense human suffering,” the National Weather Service said in a stark warning sent out Tuesday evening.
Maria’s winds intensified to 175 mph, making it a Category 5 storm, after striking Dominica and the neighboring French island of Guadeloupe.
Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit sent out a series of dramatic Facebook messages on Monday as the storm swept across the tiny island, ripping the roof from his home and filling his house with water.
His updates came to an abrupt end as phone and internet connections went down. “The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God,” Skerrit wrote in one of his last posts.
It is possible that Maria could strengthen even more as it barrels over the U.S. Virgin Islands Tuesday night and Puerto Rico on Wednesday, bringing with it “lifethreatening” flooding.
Maria was centered about 120 miles southeast of San Juan Tuesday night and was moving westnorthwest at 10 mph.
“This is going to impact all of Puerto Rico with a force and violence that we haven’t seen for several generations,” said Gov. Ricardo Rossello. “We’re going to lose a lot of infrastructure in Puerto Rico. We’re going to have to rebuild.”
President Trump declared a state of emergency for the territory on Monday.
A group of 27 medics and disaster relief professionals from the FDNY and the NYPD were en route to Puerto Rico to help with logistics ahead of Maria’s landfall, a spokesman for Mayor de Blasio said.
The storm comes as many in the region are struggling to come to terms with the destruction wrought by Hurricane Irma, which carved a deadly path across the Caribbean before its winds and rains caused chaos in parts of southern Florida. More than 90 people were killed by Irma.
Meanwhile, Long Island and coastal New Jersey braced Tuesday for flooding and potential blackouts as the downgraded tropical storm Jose continued to slowly track north.
Wind gusts up to 50 mph and waves large enough to wash over dunes could cause damage across Nassau and Suffolk counties as well as parts of the Jersey Shore, according to forecasters.
“There’s potential that Long Island is going to be hurt by this storm,” Gov. Cuomo said. “We are prepared for whatever it is or for whatever it isn’t.”