What happened
Hurricane Maria made its first landfall on the Caribbean island nation of Dominica on Monday, September 18, as a Category 5 storm with winds topping 160 mph - the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall there. Days later, the storm devastated the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
- Maria is the first Category 4 hurricane to directly impact Puerto Rico in 85 years
- Nearly the entire population of Puerto Rico -- more than 3 million American citizens -- are without electricity in Puerto Rico, nearly a week after Maria made landfall on Wednesday, September 20
- It could take four to six months until power is restored, officials there say
- Puerto Rico had not yet fully recovered from Hurricane Irma, which pummelled the island with high winds just two weeks earlier