Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico

World
Europe

Updated at 19:10 BJT

Hurricane Maria has made landfall near Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Wednesday.

The hurricane is about 35 miles (55 km) southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour (250 km per hour), the NHC said, adding that it is moving in a north-westerly direction at 10 mph (17 km/h).

Updated at 17:18 BJT

The eye of Hurricane Maria is expected to make a landfall in Puerto Rico in the next few hours, and its strength has weakened to Category 4 with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, according to NHC Atlantic Ops's Twitter account.

Updated at 10:39 BJT

The storm has killed one person, and two persons are missing in Guadeloupe after Hurricane Maria struck the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica.

Hurricane Maria has intensified and regained its Category 5 hurricane strength, the highest level of the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

The US National Hurricane Center warned of a "potentially catastrophic" impact as Maria churned northwest towards the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

The massive storm slammed into the Virgin Islands late Tuesday night before heading to Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

Error loading player: No playable sources found