Hurricane Maria: Storm wreaks devastation in Caribbean island of Dominica

Hurricane Maria smashed into the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica on Tuesday, with its prime minister describing devastating damage as winds and rain from the storm also hit territories still reeling from Irma.

Maria, which has been fluctuating in intensity between a Category Four and Category Five hurricane on its path through the Caribbean, hit Dominica with winds of up to 257 kilometres per hour, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

"We have lost all what money can buy and replace," Dominica's premier Roosevelt Skerrit posted on Facebook, saying there were initial reports of "widespread devastation".

"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."

Earlier, he said his roof had been blown off and house flooded, leaving him "at the complete mercy of the hurricane".

After being rescued, Skerrit appealed for "help of all kinds" but noted specifically that authorities would need helicopters to survey the damage.
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After Irma, battered Caribbean islands brace for Category-4 Hurricane Maria

Islands in the Caribbean still reeling from megastorm Irma braced on Tuesday for a fresh battering as Hurricane Maria approached, wielding potentially lethal force.

In just a few hours, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) hiked Maria from a Category Two to a Category Four hurricane, packing winds of 209 kilometres per hour that it forecast would strengthen further over the next day or so.

"Potentially life-threatening" storm surges, destructive waves, flash floods and mudslides threatened the Leeward Islands -- the island group that includes Martinique, Puerto Rico and the US and British Vigin islands -- the NHC said.

"The eye and the intense inner core is expected to pass near Dominica in the next few hours," the centre warned in its 2100 GMT (2:30 am IST) bulletin, describing Maria as "an extremely dangerous major hurricane".

The French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe -- the bridgehead for aid for Irma-hit French territories -- ordered all at-risk zones to be evacuated.

The order, effective from 4 pm local time, bars specific areas considered to be at risk of "flooding, submersion and landslips," according to the statement, issued by the island's prefect.

Islanders on Martinique, which is also part of France, were ordered to stay indoors under a maximum-level "violet" alert.
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