Deadly Maria heads for Turks, Caicos islands
SAN JUAN: Hurricane Maria barrelled toward the Turks and Caicos islands yesterday after lashing Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands with winds and rain that destroyed homes, flooded streets, devastated economies and left at least 32 people dead.
The second major hurricane to rage through the Caribbean this month, Maria has devastated several small islands, including St Croix in the US Virgin Islands and Dominica. It is the strongest storm to hit the US territory of Puerto Rico in nearly 90 years, where it has knocked out the island’s power.
At least 15 people were killed in Puerto Rico, the island’s El
Nuevo Dia newspaper reported. Among those were eight people who drowned in Toa Baja, about 32km west of San Juan, Mayor Bernardo Marquez Garcia told the newspaper.
More than 4000 people had been rescued from flooded areas of Toa Baja, he said.
Three elderly sisters were killed by a mudslide on Thursday in the central municipality of Utuado, El Nuevo Dia said.
Maria, headed towards the Turks and Caicos islands, is now a category 3 hurricane on the fivestep SaffirSimpson scale, with sustained winds of up to 205kmh.
Maria was expected to bring as much as 1020mm of rain to Puerto Rico and up to 400mm to the Turks and Caicos, which could cause flash floods and mudslides, the NHC said.
Maria’s strength was not expected to change during the next few days.
The storm looked unlikely to hit the continental United States but its storm swells would reach the US southeastern coast from today, the NHC said.
Officials in Puerto Rico were assessing the damage after Maria slammed the island on Thursday with winds of up to 250kmh.
US President Donald Trump said the island had been ‘‘totally obliterated’’ and he planned to visit.
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello imposed a dusktodawn curfew until tomorrow on the island of 3.4 million people.
‘‘If it is not an emergency situation, people should remain in their homes or shelters,’’ he said.
Maria struck Dominica as a category 5 storm on Tuesday, damaging about 95% of the roofs on the island, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humani tarian Affairs said. At least 14 people died, CNN said.
Two people were killed in the French territory of Guadeloupe and one person on the US Virgin Islands.
Utility crews from the US were headed to Puerto Rico to help try to restore the battered power grid and the US military sent ground forces and aircraft to assist with search and rescue.
More than 95% of wireless cell sites were not working yesterday on the island, the US Federal Communications Commission said. In the US Virgin Islands, more than threequarters of cell sites were out of service.
Puerto Rico was already facing the largest municipal debt crisis in US history, and a team of judges overseeing its bankruptcy has advised involved parties to put legal proceedings on hold indefinitely as the island recovers, according to a source familiar with the proceedings.
In the island’s capital San Juan, the storm left a litter of wreckage. Roads were blocked by downed foliage and firefighters and rescue officials wielded chainsaws to cut through the debris.
San Juan airport reopened for military and relief flights yesterday, with plans for a limited resumption of commercial flights today.
With electricity and communications knocked out across the island, people busied themselves securing food and collecting rain water.
Maria passed close by the US Virgin Island of St Croix, home to about 55,000 people, on Thursday as a rare and ferocious category 5 storm, knocking out electricity and most cellphone services. About 600 people throughout the US Virgin Islands were in emergency shelters and many areas were without power, Governor Kenneth Mapp said. — Reuters