SAN ISIDRO, PUERTO RICO - OCTOBER 15: Uncollected debris stand near damaged homes in an area without electricity on October 15, 2017 in San Isidro, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is suffering shortages of food and water in many areas and only 15 percent of grid electricity has been restored. Puerto Rico experienced widespread damage including most of the electrical, gas and water grid as well as agriculture after Hurricane Maria, a category 4 hurricane, swept through. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - SEPTEMBER 30: San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz speaks to the media as she arrives at the temporary government center setup at the Roberto Clemente stadium in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria on September 30, 2017 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico experienced widespread damage including most of the electrical, gas and water grid as well as agriculture after Hurricane Maria, a category 4 hurricane, passed through. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Dominica PM says "my roof is gone"
After Dominica, the storm is expected to hit Puerto Rico
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—
The Caribbean island of Dominica has been “devastated” by Hurricane Maria, the country’s Prime Minister tells CNN.
The powerful storm, which made landfall Monday night, has since been downgraded to a Category 4 with sustained winds of 155 mph. After it passes over Dominica it is on course to score a direct hit on the US territory of Puerto Rico – the first hurricane of its strength to do so in 85 years.
“We’re just waiting for daybreak to do an assessment of the damage,” Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit told CNN’s Rosemary Church.
“Our first order of business will be search and rescue to ensure we can account for every single citizen and residents who were on the island during this really devastating hurricane.”
A statement from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that its record-topping winds reached 160 miles per hour when it hit the island nation. In an update the Center said that reports “indicate significant damage to structures has occurred in Dominica.”
Maria made landfall on Dominica late Monday, coming ashore at 9:15 p.m. ET. It was so powerful that it tore the roof off the Prime Minister’s residence.
“Personally I was affected,” Skerrit said. “The roof of the residence caved in because of the strength of the wind. But I was taken to safe ground by … police officers, thank God.
“This hurricane stayed in the country for a very, very long time and (was) just unrelenting. I don’t think there were very many roofs which would survive the hurricane.”
In a Facebook post he added: “So far we have lost all what money can buy and replace.
“My greatest fear for the morning is that we will wake to news of serious physical injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides triggered by persistent rains.”
Relentless march
The storm will continue moving toward Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as a strong Category 4 or a Category 5 and is not expected to diminish in strength.
After Dominica, Puerto Rico is in Maria’s sights. It is moving toward the island as an “extremely dangerous major hurricane, and a hurricane warning has been issued for that island,” the hurricane center said.
Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, has declared a state of emergency ahead of that landfall, which will likely happen Wednesday.
A hurricane warning from the NHC remains in effect for Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat, the US and British Virgin Islands as well as Puerto Rico, Culebra, and Vieques.
US President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration for the US territory for federal assistance to augment the territory’s storm-response initiatives.
The ferocity of Maria bears striking similarities to Hurricane Andrew, the Category 5 hurricane which hit the Bahamas and Florida in 1992, says CNN meterologist Pedram Javaheri. Both storms are compact, and Maria’s wind speed comes close to that of Hurricane Andrew – 165 mph – when it hit southern Florida.
Hours before Maria’s expected landfall on Dominica – and just over week after the island was brushed by Irma – Skerrit urged residents to take any belongings that could become dangerous projectiles indoors.
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Carmelo Mota, a builder, searches for tools in his destroyed home in Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands, on Monday, September 18. Hurricane Irma devastated the US territory and other Caribbean islands in the region, leaving them exposed to new storms brewing in the Atlantic.
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An aerial photo shows the devastation in Road Town, the capital of Tortola, the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, on Wednesday, September 13.
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UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talks to a resident of Anguilla during a visit on September 13.
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People collect food that was delivered by emergency workers in the Sandy Ground area of Marigot, St. Martin, on Tuesday, September 12.
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Buildings are destroyed in St. Martin on September 12.
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French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with St. Martin residents during a visit to the island on September 12.
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French soldiers patrol St. Martin on September 12.
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A person works to clean up a street September 12 after Hurricane Irma flooded parts of Havana, Cuba.
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A man makes repairs in Havana on September 12.
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This Marigot church was among the buildings destroyed in the storm.
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Cubans affected by Hurricane Irma line up to collect drinking water in Isabela de Sagua, Cuba, on Monday, September 11.
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Dutch King Willem-Alexander, front right, tours damage in St. Maarten on September 11.
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A palm tree sticks out of a pool on the French side of St. Martin on September 11.
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A woman stands next to her water-logged belongings that had been laid out to dry in front of her home in Isabela de Sagua on September 11.
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People line up for supplies in St. Martin on September 11.
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The skeleton of a boat drifts in St. Martin's Simpson Bay on September 11.
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People salvage material from the remains of a house in Isabela de Sagua on September 11.
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Members of the British Army provide support on Tortola, one of the British Virgin Islands.
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A woman carries a dog at an airport checkpoint in St. Martin on September 11.
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People wade through a flooded street as a wave crashes in Havana on Sunday, September 10.
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Two men search through the rubble of their St. Martin restaurant on September 10.
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People make their way through debris in the Cojimar neighborhood of Havana on September 10.
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People board a plane leaving St. Martin on September 10.
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A man wades through a flooded street in Havana on September 10.
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An overview of Havana shows flooded streets on Saturday, September 9.
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A woman surveys flooding in Havana on September 9.
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A boat rests in a cemetery after Irma tore through Marigot, St. Martin.
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Residents return home after Irma passed through Caibarien, Cuba, on September 9.
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A man walks in Caibarien on September 9.
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A man carries a child through a flooded street in Fort-Liberte, Haiti, on Friday, September 8.
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A man walks on a St. Martin street covered in debris on September 8.
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A damaged home is tilted onto its side on the Puerto Rican island of Culebra on Thursday, September 7.
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A home is surrounded by debris in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 7.
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Irma damage is seen in St. Martin's Orient Bay on September 7.
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Employees from an electrical company work to clear a fallen tree in Sanchez, Dominican Republic.
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A woman makes her way through debris in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on September 7.
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In this image made from video, damaged houses are seen in St. Thomas on September 7.
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The storm left widespread destruction on the island of Barbuda on September 7.
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A flattened home is seen in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 7.
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Nagua residents ride through an area affected by the storm on September 7.
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Trash and debris is washed ashore in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on September 7.
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People walk through damage in Marigot, St. Martin, on September 7.
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People survey damage in Marigot on September 7.
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Bluebeard's Castle, a resort in St. Thomas, was hit hard by Irma. St. Thomas resident David Velez sent this photo to CNN on September 7.
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Irma ruined these vehicles in St. Thomas.
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Waves smash into St. Martin on Wednesday, September 6.
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A man looks at a vehicle turned upside down in the British territory of Anguilla.
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An aerial view of St. Martin on September 6.
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Damaged cars are seen on a St. Martin beach on September 6.
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A boat is washed onto shore in St. Martin.
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Cars are piled up in Marigot on September 6.
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A man walks past damaged buildings in St. Martin on September 6.
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A car is flipped onto its side in Marigot.
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Broken palm trees are scattered on a Marigot beach on September 6.
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Irma floods a beach in Marigot on September 6.
“The next few hours should be placed on cleaning up around the house and on your properties rather than stockpiling weeks of foods and other supplies,” Skerrit said in a televised speech.
“This is not a system that will linger very long. Therefore, the goal must not be on stockpiling supplies but on mitigating damage caused by flying objects.”
Puerto Rico on alert
Puerto Rico sheltered many of the evacuees who fled Hurricane Irma’s wrath in other Caribbean islands. Now those evacuees and native Puerto Ricans are bracing for another powerful hurricane.
Rosselló ordered evacuations ahead of deteriorating conditions, telling CNN that extensive preparations had been made to mitigate Maria’s potential impact.
“We’re as ready as we can be,” he told CNN’s Don Lemon.
“This sort of event is a very dangerous event, high winds, a slow storm and a lot of rainfall. And this coming just about two weeks after Irma skirted off the northeast of Puerto Rico.
“We’ve made preparations… we’ve focused on really the only thing that matters right now, which is making sure people are safe. We have 500 shelters, (we’re) moving people to those shelters and hopefully weathering the storm so we can rebuild Puerto Rico.
Calling its potential impact “catastrophic,” Rosselló said that the island was expected to experience tropical storm force winds for about two and a half days and sustained high level hurricane winds for “the better part of a day.”
“We expect to feel storm winds, tropical storm winds, since Tuesday up until late on Thursday. That’s about two-and-a-half days of tropical storm winds, and on Wednesday we will feel the brunt – all of the island will feel the brunt of sustained category four or five winds, Rosselló said.
“This is an event that will be damaging to the infrastructure, that will be catastrophic, and our main focus – our only focus right now – should be to make sure we save lives.”
In Salinas, a city on the island’s southern coast where the storm is expected to hit hard, CNN saw dozens of people queuing for water and essentials ahead of the hurricane’s anticipated impact.
Restauranteur Juan Miguel Gonzalez told CNN he was “worried” about the storm’s impact. “Not about material stuff, rather the people,” he said.
His staff were working to prepare the waterfront property for Maria’s arrival and the 39-year-old said that he would return tomorrow to make sure that it was secure.
Staff were working to secure restauranteur Juan Miguel Gonzalez' property ahead of the storm late Monday.
Zac Gooch
The Puerto Rico Convention Center in the capital San Juan to the north, which is still housing Hurricane Irma evacuees from other Caribbean islands, is preparing to accept thousands of residents as the brunt of the storm is felt.
Hurricane and tropical storm warnings
The storm will affect parts of the Leeward Islands and the British and US Virgin Islands for next couple of days, the center said.
Other Leeward Islands are now under hurricane warnings, including Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat. the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands are under warnings.
Trump issued an emergency declaration for the US Virgin Islands.
There are tropical storm warnings in effect for Martinique, Antigua and Barbuda, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Martin, Anguilla and St. Lucia.
The government of the Dominican Republic has issued a hurricane watch from Isla Saona to Puerto Plata, and a tropical storm watch west of Puerto Plata to the northern Dominican Republic-Haiti border.
The British Foreign Office said more than 1,300 troops are in the region, on affected islands or nearby locations, ready to help after Maria goes by. One military team has been deployed to the British Virgin Islands.
A British military reconnaissance team is on standby to go to Montserrat and assess needs, the office said. The HMS Ocean is set to arrive in the area at week’s end with 60 tons of government supplies.
Another hurricane, Jose, is also churning in the Atlantic and has spawned tropical storm warnings for part of the US East Coast.
While forecasters don’t anticipate Jose making landfall in the US, it’s still expected to cause “dangerous surf and rip currents” along the East Coast in the next few days, the hurricane center said.
CNN’s Brandon Miller, Marilia Brocchetto, Judson Jones, Taylor Ward, Deborah Bloom, Leyla Santiago, Michael Holmes, Matt Wotus and Susannah Cullinane contributed to this report.
