Category 4 Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico

Puerto Ricans have been thrown into a long blackout following the knock of Hurricane Maria’s storm which made landfall early Wednesday morning with winds of 155mph (250kph) and massive flooding which knocked out the US territory’s power service on Wednesday, as roofs were torn off buildings and doors flew off their hinges.

The category 4 storm which dropped to a category 2 after devastating Puerto Rico unleashed a day of punishing winds and life-threatening flooding on the U.S territory. The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) has however warned that it could regain strength in the coming days.

San Juan, the island capital experienced a more devastating effect, while flash-flood warning was declared in central Puerto Rico, due to rivers overflowing their banks, causing people to take cover in stairwells, bathrooms and closets as trees and communication towers were knocked down in the storm.

In response, Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, with the aim of maintaining order, announced a curfew from 6pm to 6am every night until Saturday with the exemption of emergency personnel, health workers and reporters. He said, “Remain in safe places”.

Mayor of the northern coastal city of Catano, Felix Delgado told the Associated Press that 80% of the 454 homes in a neighbourhood identified as Juana Matos were destroyed. “Months and months and months and months are going to pass before we can recover from this,” he said.

Mike Brennan, a senior hurricane specialist at the NHC, said Maria would remain “a major, very dangerous hurricane” for the next couple of days and that rainfall would be a problem even after the center of the hurricane moved away from the island.

A spokeswoman for FEMA told the Guardian that all energy customers in Puerto Rico had been left without power late on Wednesday afternoon.

The executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA), Carlos Mercader, said there were 13,000 evacuees in Puerto Rico’s shelters – comprising of people who evacuated from other islands during Hurricane Irma.

President Trump had on Tuesday declared an emergency in Puerto Rico and in a tweet sent a message of support saying, “Puerto Rico being hit hard by new monster Hurricane. Be careful, our hearts are with you – will be there to help!”

Maria was still category 5 early Wednesday morning when it rocked St Croix, the largest and southernmost of the US Virgin Islands, and the French island of Guadeloupe, killing at least one person inflicting 40% of homes with darkness.

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