Maria strengthens in Caribbean

Death toll rises, with hurricane likely to turn north

USA TODAY

After devastating much of Puerto Rico, a briefly weakened Hurricane Maria regained strength Thursday as it swept into warm waters off the Dominican Republic ahead of an expected turn north well off the U.S. coast in the Atlantic.

In the meantime, Maria raked the northern tier of the Dominican Republic and bore down on the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas, all under a hurricane warning.

The powerful storm has killed at least 19 people in its march through the Caribbean, including 15 in Dominica and two in Guadeloupe.

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit cried as he spoke to a reporter on the nearby island of Antigua.

“We have buried in excess of 15 people,” he said. “It is a miracle there were not hundreds of deaths.”

As of 2 p.m. EDT, Maria had strengthened back into a Category 3 storm and was 155 miles southeast of Grand Turk Island, the National Hurricane Center said. It packed winds of 120 mph and was moving northwest at 9 mph. Hurricaneforce winds extended outward up to 60 miles from the center of the storm.

While moving away from Puerto Rico, the storm was so large that it was expected to continue dumping rain on the island, with an extra 4 to 8 inches likely through Saturday. In some parts of the island, the total rainfall from the storm is expected to be up to 35 inches.

The powerful storm knocked out power to the entire island of more than 3 million people and collapsed its telecommunications services.

After Hurricane Irma sideswiped Puerto Rico two weeks ago, leaving more than 1 million people without power, Maria blew out windows at some hospitals and police stations, turned streets into roaring rivers, and destroyed hundreds of homes across the island. Storm surge of more than 4 feet swept away about 80 percent of houses in one small fishing community near San Juan Bay.

In New York, where he is attending United Nations meetings, President Donald Trump said Thursday that Puerto Rico was “absolutely obliterated” by Maria. He said the island’s electrical grid is “totally destroyed” and “wasn’t in good shape to start off with.”

Maria’s slow grind over Puerto Rico sapped it of power, but its trek over warm, open waters boosted the storm back to a Category 3 strength early Thursday. It’s expected to strengthen even more as it sweeps to the northwest.

Tropical Storm Jose, which has moved far to the north off the U.S. coast, is largely responsible for Maria’s expected northward turn, said Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist.

As of 2 p.m. EDT, Jose’s 60 mph sustained winds were driving rip currents and rough surf along much of the East Coast. The storm was spinning about 160 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

The hurricane center said a tropical storm warning was in effect for Cape Cod, Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.