Florida may dodge a bullet from Maria

Island braces for direct hit, the first Category 5 since 1928

As the “biggest storm of the century” barreled toward Puerto Rico, Florida got some good news: Hurricane Maria is likely to miss the U.S. Maria was expected to make landfall in southern Puerto Rico on Wednesday as a fierce Category 5 storm and may deliver a catastrophic blow to the island. But Hurricane Jose, which is spinning near New England, should help push Maria out to sea and avoid a U.S. landfall. Maria may be the only second Category 5 hurricane to strike Puerto Rico,

Hurricane Maria rumbled ominously toward this exposed Caribbean island Tuesday as an angry, Category 5 storm after hammering Dominica.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló warned citizens that the ferocity of the storm could be unprecedented and urged them to seek shelter.

“This is the biggest storm we’ve seen in a century,” he said. “We’re going to see a lot of damage, we’re going to have to rebuild, but right now let’s focus on saving lives.”

AccuWeather senior meteorologist Rob Miller said Maria should make landfall over southeast Puerto Rico on Wednesday morning, bisecting the island as a Category 5 storm. Hurricane Irma ravaged the island despite only striking with a glancing blow. Now residents must be ready for the full brunt of Maria’s fury, Miller said.

“They were spared the worst of Irma, but their luck has run out,” Miller said.

Maria would be only the second Category 5 hurricane — sustained winds in excess of 165 mph — to rake the island since accurate record-keeping began in the mid-1800s. The last one, in 1928, killed hundreds and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

The storm’s center reached Dominica late Monday, pounding the mountainous island with strong winds and heavy rains.

Tiny St. John’s should remain a bit more out of the line of fire but could see sustained, tropical force winds with hurricane-level gusts, Miller said. Puerto Rico, however, faces a direct hit as “potentially catastrophic” moves in, the hurricane center said.

Rosselló said rescue teams likely will not be able to go out for a couple days after the storm hits, so residents in flood-prone areas or in unstable buildings should evacuate now.

He said the government has prepared hundreds of shelters capable of housing more than 100,000 evacuees.

In Old San Juan, residents and tourists grabbed last-minute supplies and continued fortifying homes and businesses. Crews drilled plywood planks over the windows of Mojito’s Restaurant. The restaurant had been closed for the summer, but owner Guillermo Hernandez said he feared the damage Maria could bring.

“It’s coming strong for San Juan,” he said. “We need to reinforce.”

Store owner Heber Hernandez said he realizes Maria will be the strongest storm the island has seen in over seven decades. But improved technology has made it easier to inform citizens and help them better prepare for storms, he said.

Hernandez said he expects to ride out the storm at home but concedes that “in my 24 years in this city, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

In San Juan’s Condado neighborhood, a mix of tourist hotels and residential neighborhoods, open-air cafeterias served patrons lunch as people went about their business. Cixto Calderón sold $5 bunches of quenepas — small, sweet, lime-like fruits purported to have medicinal qualities from relieving stress to combating cancer — from the trunk of his car.

Calderón, 57, said he would ride out the hurricane in his nearby home. “I’m making a little money but this is also a service to the people,” he said. “This will relieve their stress, take their mind off Maria.”

Bacon reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: J.D. Gallop, Florida Today.