World
10:39, 20-Sep-2017
Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico
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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.
Earlier on Monday, storm severely hit Dominica and aerial footage shows flattened houses.
13600km