Hurricane Maria targets Caribbean
Storm strengthens to Category 5,takes aim at Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Maria intensified into a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm Monday as it surged toward islands in the eastern Caribbean, and forecasters warned it might become even stronger.
The storm’s eye was expected to pass near Dominica during the night and then today brush past many of the islands already wrecked by Hurricane Irma and head toward a possible direct strike on Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
On Dominica, zinc roofs began blowing off homes as the outer edge of the storm moved in during the evening.
Authorities had closed schools and government offices on the island and urged people to move from dangerous areas to shelters.
“We should treat the approaching hurricane very, very seriously,” Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit warned. “This much water in Dominica is dangerous.”
In August 2015, Tropical Storm Erika unleashed flooding and landslides that killed 31 people and destroyed more than 370 homes on the small, mountainous island.
Officials on nearby Guadeloupe said the French island would experience extremely heavy flooding and warned that many communities could be submerged overnight.
In Martinique, authorities ordered people to remain indoors and said they should prepare for cuts to power and water. Schools and non-essential public services were closed.
With Puerto Rico appearing destined for a hit, officials in the U.S. territory warned residents of wooden or otherwise flimsy homes to find safe shelter.
“You have to evacuate. Otherwise you’re going to die,” said Hector Pesquera, Puerto Rico’s public safety commissioner. “I don’t know how to make this any clearer.”
The U.S. territory imposed rationing of basic supplies including water, milk, baby formula, canned food, batteries and flashlights.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Maria had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph Monday evening. It was centered about 40 miles north of Martinique and 15 miles east-southeast of Dominica, and was heading west-northwest at 9 mph.
“Maria is developing the dreaded pinhole eye,” the center warned.
That’s a sign of an extremely strong hurricane likely to get even mightier, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. Just like when a spinning ice skater brings in their arms and rotates faster, a smaller, tighter eye shows the same physics, he said.
Maria’s eye shrank to a narrow 10 miles across.
“You just don’t see those in weaker hurricanes,” McNoldy said.