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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Oliver Laughland (now), Matthew Weaver and Claire Phipps (earlier)

Death reported in Guadeloupe as storm Maria hits – as it happened

This live blog is now closed.

Our coverage of Hurricane Maria is continuing in this new live blog anchored by my colleague Sam Levin.

Maria is now edging closer and closer to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, the latest update from the National Hurricane Center says.

The update, released at 4pm EST, states Maria is now 185 miles south east of Puerto Rican capital San Juan, and 85 miles south east of St. Croix, home to roughly 55,000 people - half the entire population of the US Virgin Islands.

The hurricane has also sped up to winds of 165 mph.

A weather station on the island of St Thomas - the westerly isle of the US Virgin Islands, has reported a gust of 48 mph, while another gust of 53 mph was reported on the tiny Dutch island of St. Eustatius.

The head of emergency services for the US Virgin Islands, Mona Barnes, has urged residents to go to designated shelters.

“You’re not making a wise decision by trying to stay at home by yourself and ride this storm out,” Barnes said. Residents have already been warned they face being without electricity for weeks.

The billionaire businessman Richard Branson has warned that catastrophic weather events like hurricanes Maria, Irma and Harvey are “the start of things to come” due to climate change.

The airline operator who also owns a private island in the British Virgin Islands, which was hit by Irma and looks set to be impacted by Maria, told CNN: “Climate change is real. Ninety-nine percent of scientists know it’s real.”

He continued: “The whole world knows it’s real except for maybe one person in the White House.”

Asked if it was possible to link the recent spate of category 5 hurricanes to climate change, Branson said: “Look, you can never be 100% sure about links. But scientists have said the storms are going to get more and more and more intense and more and more often. We’ve had four storms within a month, all far greater than that have ever, ever, ever happened in history.”

You can see the full interview here.

The National Hurricane Center issued another update on Maria this past hour. The storm remains a category 5 hurricane. Its eye is still projected to pass “near or over” the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this evening and into Wednesday morning. Those regions should expect a storm surge of between six to nine feet, the center advises.

The hurricane warning for Guadeloupe has been reduced to a tropical storm warning and the tropical storm warning for Martinique has been withdrawn.

One death reported in Guadeloupe

Hurricane Maria has claimed the life of at least one person in the French island of Guadeloupe, marking the first fatality attributed to the storm.

The Associated Press reports the individual was killed by a falling tree on Tuesday morning. The storm had hit the island overnight.

Around 40 percent of the island is now without power, equivalent to 80,000 homes and flooding has been reported in several communities, mostly along the southern coast.

Officials say Les Saintes, Marie-Galant, Petit-Bourg and La Desirade have been the hardest hit. Roads are littered with fallen branches and trees but only limited infrastructure damage has been reported.

Here’s some video from a local broadcaster that shows some of the destruction. It was filmed in the Le Gosier area in the island’s south. An unnamed woman says: “There’s nothing… I don’t have anything anymore.”

The latest radar images published by the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, shows Maria’s outer bands beginning to enter the British Virgin Islands, the US Virgin Islands and the south eastern tip of Puerto Rico.

Here’s some recent footage shot just by the coastline of old San Juan in Puerto Rico. The storm is not set to hit mainland Puerto Rico until Wednesday morning but outer bands of rain have already begun to hit.

A man covers the windows of a supermarket in preparation for Hurricane Maria in San Juan, Puerto Rico September 19, 2017
A man covers the windows of a supermarket in preparation for Hurricane Maria in San Juan, Puerto Rico September 19, 2017 Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Norbert Figueroa, a freelance reporter working for the Guardian in Puerto Rico, has just sent this dispatch from the northeastern municipality of Carolina.

Norbert reports that long lines of Puerto Ricans have formed outside supermarkets and grocery stores around the island. People are queueing for basic supplies, including water and fuel. Rationing of some certain commodities has already begun as supermarkets run out of provisions.

Puerto Ricans are battening down to what officials are calling the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the inland since 1928.

While people on the island are used to hurricanes, the uncertainty of facing such a powerful storm, the likes of which haven’t been felt in generations, is generating considerable fear.

“I just came from the supermarket, and even now, it is still packed with people buying last minute supplies to survive the storm. There are no more generators available, and some places have run out of water and batteries,” said Antero Rivera, a resident of Carolina.

He isn’t alone in his last minute shopping. At grocery stores across the island, queues at the tills are long. People are filling their pantries with food and cars with fuel ahead or the storm.

Puerto Rico has imposed a rationing of basic supplies including water and baby formula. That regimen has even extended to materials such as wooden panels to protect doors and windows.

The weather is already deteriorating, with intense rainfall and light gusts hitting the islands of Culebra and Vieques. Tropical storm winds are expected to be felt starting late night on Tuesday, with landfall in the mainland around 8 am on Wednesday – lasting roughly 12 hours over the island.

Even though the eye is expected to pass through Puerto Rico on Wednesday, the government is advising people to expect up to 72 hours of rough weather and to prepare with over a week’s worth of water and food as local rescue brigades estimate it could take up to a week to reach residents in need, especially if they are located up in mountainous regions or more remote locations.

The most recent memory of such a strong hurricane dates back to 1989 when hurricane Hugo hit the mainland.

But it isn’t just Hugo in their minds. While Hurricane Irma carved a trail of destruction two weeks ago that largely avoided Puerto Rico, its powerful effects aren’t lost on Puerto Ricans who have seen their neighbors decimated.

Luis Fonseca fills a container with gasoline at a gas station one day before the forecasted arrival of Hurricane Maria in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. Authorities in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which faces the possibility of a direct hit, warned that people in wooden or flimsy homes should find safe shelter before the storm’s expected arrival there on Wednesday
Luis Fonseca fills a container with gasoline at a gas station one day before the forecasted arrival of Hurricane Maria in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. Authorities in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which faces the possibility of a direct hit, warned that people in wooden or flimsy homes should find safe shelter before the storm’s expected arrival there on Wednesday Photograph: Carlos Giusti/AP

Rex Tillerson in New York City.
Rex Tillerson has wished the residents of St Kitts and Nevis a speedy recovery after Hurricane Irma. Photograph: Stephanie Keith/Reuters

As St Kitts and Nevis braces for the impact of Maria, it is also marking the 34th anniversary of independence from Britain.

The US secretary of state has just issued a statement to mark the occasion. Although Rex Tillerson mentions post-Irma reconstruction efforts, he does not mention the incoming Hurricane Maria.

On behalf of the United States we offer our best wishes to the people of the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis as you celebrate 34 years of independence.

The United States is proud to be a longstanding partner and friend to the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis. Our history of collaboration on citizen security, energy, and economic development has been beneficial for both of our nations.

We wish your people a speedy recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, and look forward to strengthening our partnership in the years ahead.

Updated

My colleague Oliver Milman has been speaking to St Kitts and Nevis’ high commissioner to the UK, Kevin Isaac. The high commissioner last spoke to colleagues on the islands this morning, UK time. He reports they have since lost contact and, like those on the British Virgin Islands, are preparing for the worst.

He said:

There were strong winds and heavy rains all night; no one was able to go out. The outer band of the storm was affecting St Kitts as early as last night.

I’ve already heard reports of the winds picking up but we’ve lost contact at the moment. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. The storm was expected but this intensity wasn’t expected. There’s been this sudden and dramatic change.

People have been advised to stay at home. It has been the same warnings as for Irma. I was more worried about Irma but this hurricane is really picking up in intensity.

Isaac linked Maria’s sudden intensity to climate change:

There is a natural inclination to ask ‘what is going on?’ Our fishing stock is migrating south because the water is getting warmer. And the scientists tell us that hurricanes pick up strength in warm waters. You may say it’s not climate change but there certainly has been a dramatic change.

When the eye of the storm sits over you, it can be the end.

Updated

The St Kitts and Nevis prime minister, Timothy Harris, has told residents to stay indoors until the storm passes. Hurricane Maria is expected to hit the twin islands this afternoon.

Updated

Maria remains at category 5

The US National Hurricane Center reports that Maria remains at category 5 with sustained winds of 160mph. In an update at 11am EST, it said hurricane-force gusts were extending for 35 miles from Maria’s center.

“Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Maria is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous category 4 or 5 hurricane until it moves near or over the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico,” it said.

Updated

The remains of a family home ravaged by Hurricane Irma in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
The remains of a family home ravaged by Hurricane Irma in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Photograph: Joel Rouse/EPA

Benito Wheatley, the British Virgin Islands’ UK and EU representative, has told the Guardian the archipelago is “preparing for the worst” as Maria makes its way north. The islands were devastated by Hurricane Irma, which destroyed at least 80% of structures and left no schools or tourism businesses functioning.

Wheatley, who is in New York for the UN general assembly, last spoke to representatives on the islands on Monday night. He says they are preparing for the hurricane to hit this evening.

As you can imagine the communities in the BVI after Irma are very very vulnerable. Things had begun to stabilize on the ground, with the mobilization of UK military police and humanitarian workers. But now this has all ground to a halt as people move into emergency preparation for Hurricane Maria.

People are very concerned because the shelters that they have, many of them have been weakened, many of the homes don’t have roofs, a large number of persons were staying in a home that was intended for just a few people, so they’re squeezed in.

The debris that was caused by Hurricane Irma is still there. The greenery and the trees on the hills have been badly damaged by Irma, they were basically wiped out and therefore there’s nothing to really hold the soil together, so there’s a concern about mudslides.

We know it [Maria] is going to come very, very close. We are preparing for the worst that is what we have to do, given the very vulnerable state of the communities there. Even if it’s not a direct hit, you can imagine that just a storm of that size coming anywhere near the BVI in it’s current condition could be very damaging.

We are going to need as much support as we can get going forward.

Updated

Lines of communications with Dominica still appear to be down after Maria hit.

Chris Austin, head of the UK’s taskforce in the region, says the Caribbean regional agency for disaster has pre-stocked supplies on the island. In a video update he said the UK would be looking to help reinforce those supplies.

Updated

What we know so far

  • Hurricane Maria is heading across the Caribbean Sea as a category 5 storm towards Montserrat, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico after causing widespread damage on the island of Dominica.
  • Winds of up to 160mph (260km/h) and heavy rains lashed Dominica as the eye of the hurricane passed directly across it late on Monday. The prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit – who had to be rescued from his flooded home – said the island had “lost all that money can buy”. He added: “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.”
  • There has been no official word from Dominica since Skerrit said there was widespread damage, with roofs swept from buildings. Reports said Princess Margaret hospital in Roseau, the capital, was battered and radio stations stopped broadcasting as the storm crashed over the island of 72,000 people.
  • The storm briefly dipped to a category 4 before regaining strength to a category 5. On the forecast track, the eye of Maria will move over the north-eastern Caribbean Sea on Tuesday, and approach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico tonight and Wednesday.
  • A curfew has been imposed on the British Virgin Islands where relief efforts from Hurricane Irma have been halted. The governor, Gus Jaspert, said debris left by Hurricane Irma was being cleared so that it did not “turn into missiles flying at buildings” during Hurricane Maria. “Our islands are extremely vulnerable right now,” prime minister Orlando Smith warned
  • The Foreign Office is warning against travelling to the BVI, Montserrat, Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
  • Puerto Rico is preparing for what could be the strongest hurricane to slam the island for almost a century. The governor, Ricardo Rosselló, urged islanders to find safe shelter. “All indications are that this is going to be devastating and catastrophic,” he told CNN.
A debris-strewn street in Marigot on the French Caribbean island of Saint Martin. Preparations are under way for the arrival of Hurricane Maria on Tuesday.
A debris-strewn street in Marigot on the French Caribbean island of Saint Martin. Preparations are under way for the arrival of Hurricane Maria on Tuesday. Photograph: Hélène Valenzuela/AFP/Getty

Updated

Orlando Smith, the premier of the British Virgin Islands, has reminded islanders to stick to the curfew that has been in place since 6pm on Monday local time.

In an audio message on Monday he warned that debris from Hurricane Irma could become “dangerous projectiles” during Hurricane Maria.

“Our islands are extremely vulnerable right now,” Smith warned. He added: “I urge everyone to finalise their plans to be indoors for tonight’s curfew and remain there until an all-clear is given.”

Updated

The US National Hurricane Centre has given a video update on the “potentially catastrophic” Hurricane Maria as it approaches Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Island of Saint Croix.

“Everybody in those islands should have their preparations rushed to completion,” Mike Brennan, the NHC’s senior hurricane specialist, warns.

Updated

There has been no more official word from Dominica since the prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, reported “widespread devastation” and fears of deaths from flooding and mudslides on Facebook earlier today.

A police official on the island, Insp Pellam Jno Baptiste, said late on Monday there were no immediate reports of casualties but it was too dangerous for officers to check conditions. “Where we are, we can’t move,” he said in a brief phone interview with Associated Press.

The first unverified images and video of purported damage to Dominica are starting to emerge.

Updated

Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, has warned of a potentially “devastating and catastrophic” impact as Hurricane Maria heads towards the island.

Speaking to CNN he said:

We have 500 shelters. We have people moving to those shelters, and right now the priority is to make sure people are safe in Puerto Rico.

Complacency worries me the most. People might not understand the magnitude of this hurricane, or might think it won’t hit us as hard. All indications are that this is going to be devastating and catastrophic.

Although the brunt of the hurricane will pass on Wednesday, we are going to start receiving a lot of rain and a lot of flurries from Tuesday up until even Saturday. This is going to be a very dangerous time.

Infrastructure is going to be severely crippled. Our energy infrastructure is already weak, so we are going to suffer a major blow on that. Obviously some of the housing over here is inadequate, so anything that is not concrete you can expect that it is going to break or fall apart. Housing in the coastal lines is expected to have surges.

Our petition to all the viewers that have family members in Puerto Rico is to let them know it is critical for them to find safe shelter.

Updated

What we know so far

  • Hurricane Maria is heading across the Caribbean Sea as a category 5 storm towards Montserrat, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico after causing widespread damage on the island of Dominica.
  • Winds of up to 160mph (260km/h) and heavy rains lashed Dominica as the eye of the hurricane passed directly across it late on Monday. The prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit – who had to be rescued from his flooded home – said the island had “lost all that money can buy”. He added: “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.”
  • Skerrit said there was widespread damage, with roofs swept from buildings. Reports said Princess Margaret hospital in Roseau, the capital, was battered and radio stations stopped broadcasting as the storm crashed over the island of 72,000 people.
  • Maria has since skirted to the south of the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe, heading towards Montserrat and St Kitts and Nevis.
  • The storm briefly dipped to a category 4 before regaining strength to a category 5. On the forecast track, the eye of Maria will move over the north-eastern Caribbean Sea on Tuesday, and approach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico tonight and Wednesday.
  • A curfew has been imposed on the British Virgin Islands where relief efforts from Hurricane Irma have been halted. The governor, Gus Jaspert, said debris left by Hurricane Irma was being cleared so that it did not “turn into missiles flying at buildings” during Hurricane Maria.
  • The Foreign Office is warning against travelling to the BVI, Montserrat, Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
  • Puerto Rico is also preparing for what could be the strongest hurricane to slam the island for almost a century. On Monday, the public safety commissioner, Héctor Pesquera, told residents in homes not built to withstand such intense winds to move to shelters. “You have to evacuate otherwise you’re going to die. I don’t know how to make this any clearer,” he said.

Updated

Hurricane Maria batters Petit-Bourg in Guadeloupe.
Hurricane Maria batters Petit-Bourg in Guadeloupe. Photograph: Cedrik-Isham Calvados/AFP/Getty

The French island of Martinique has escaped Hurricane Maria largely unscathed, Reuters reports.

A communications blackout with Guadeloupe meant it would be several more hours before damage there could be assessed, a senior French Civil Protection official said on Tuesday.

“In Martinique, reconnaissance operations are still under way but already we can see that there is no significant damage,” Jacques Witkowski, France’s head of civil protection and crisis response, told a news briefing in Paris.

He said the hurricane was less than 43.5 miles (70km) south of Guadeloupe.

“Right now we’re in a blackout zone, so it’s very, very hard to communicate with Guadeloupe,” Witkowski said.

A hurricane-damaged restaurant in Le Carbet, a town in Martinique.
A hurricane-damaged restaurant in Le Carbet, a town in Martinique. Photograph: Lionel Chamoiseau/AFP/Getty

Two people on Martinique suffered minor injuries, according to French media reports citing the civil protection ministry.

Updated

Hurricane Maria skirted Barbados to the north but it still produced heavy rain and winds, prompting flights to be cancelled and schools to be closed.

Updated

Press Association has a grim graphic of the massive damage a category 5 hurricane can do.

Updated

Mark Brantley, deputy premier of Nevis, has posted a video update of “howling” winds on the island at dawn when the hurricane was still about 60 miles away.

Updated

People on the islands of St Kitts and Nevis have been advised to stay indoors as the centre of Hurricane Maria is due to pass “uncomfortably close” on Tuesday.

In a message to islanders, Elmo Burke, St Kitts’ senior meteorological officer, said: “Residents are urged to remain indoors and not venture out during the passage or until the all clear is given at some later time after Maria moves away.”

Updated

Here’s the forecast track of Hurricane Maria.

Forecast track of Hurricane Maria

Eric Maire, the prefect of the French island of Guadeloupe, has urged islanders to remain in a safe place even if the storm appears to have lulled.

He warns that more heavy rain is forecast and yet houses have flooded and roads are submerged already. As much rain again is forecast to fall in the coming hours, Maire points out.

Updated

Maria regains category 5 status

As predicted Maria has picked up intensity to become a category 5 hurricane again after briefly dipping to category 4.

In its latest update the the US National Hurricane Centre said:

Recent reports from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that Maria has reintensified to category 5 status, with estimated maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h).

Maria is moving west-north-west at 9 mph towards the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico which it is forecast to hit on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Updated

Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, has warned that Maria will have a much greater impact on the island than Hurricane Irma.

“It will essentially devastate most of the island,” he told USA Today. “It will provoke massive flooding in flooding prone regions … our priority is to save lives.”

Speaking in a press conference, he urged people to ensure they find safe shelter.

Updated

BBC Weather has a useful graphic on the forecast path for Hurricane Maria for the rest of the week.

The latest update from the US National Hurricane Center said the intensity of the storm had dipped slightly but could increase again:

Maria is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Maria is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous category 4 or 5 hurricane while it approaches the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Updated

Radar imagery from the French Met office shows Hurricane Maria barrelling directly over Dominica before skirting just to the south-west of Guadeloupe.

Streets have flooded in Pointe-à-Pitre in the centre of Guadeloupe.

Updated

BVI curfew imposed

Gus Jaspert, the governor of the British Virgin Islands, says there are frantic efforts to clear the islands of debris left by Hurricane Irma so that it does not “turn into missiles flying at buildings” during Hurricane Maria.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Jaspert explained why he had imposed a curfew until Maria is forecast to hit later on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Jaspert, who only took up his post 21 August, said:

This is an absolutely unprecedented event: to have a category five [Irma] followed by another category five [Maria has since dipped to a category 4 hurricane]. In the capital here Road Town, up to about 80% of buildings are destroyed or damaged. It is a huge challenge for us to be able to ensure that people have safe shelter, and that we are prepared and can bounce back quickly.

Over the last 11 days or so since Irma, we have been focused on recovery, on rebuilding things, on getting aid out, ensuring security with support of the British military and police who are here. We have switched track ... to preparation and that’s almost our singular message now to the public here.

We have been securing shelters in each community, many people are in homes that don’t have a roof, or don’t have adequate shelter, so we securing a hardened shelter in each community.

We are frantically clearing up what we call guts – essentially natural streams. We are expecting a lot of rain and we are telling people to move from low-lying areas, get away from what we call guts and we are frantically cleaning them because there is a lot of debris and blockages in them.

We are also getting the debris off the streets. There is lots of metal where roofs have ripped off houses ... in the last few days we’ve been clearing that up.

I’ve imposed a curfew in effect from now right up to when the hurricane passes so the roads are clear. We are going to send truck after truck to clear up all of the debris. I’m appealing to all of the community to show that spirit which they have shown so far of helping out, clearing up, getting the debris off the streets so it doesn’t turn into missiles flying at buildings.

The Foreign Office is advising against all travel to the British Virgin Islands as there is a “ high risk of further severe damage”. It says:

Hurricane Maria is expected to make landfall on the islands on 19 or 20 September. Following the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Irma, there’s a high risk of further severe damage. Coastal flooding is also highly likely.

If you’re in the British Virgin Islands you should identify shelter immediately and be ready to take cover when the hurricane approaches. If you’re currently outside the islands, you should not return to the territory at this time.

The local authorities have introduced a curfew from 6pm on Monday 18 September until the all clear is given following Hurricane Maria. You should continue to follow the advice of the local authorities. The hotline for British people affected or concerned about others is +44(0)20 7008 0000. You should use whatever means you can to confirm to family that you are safe.

Updated

France’s Met office has published a satellite image showing that Dominca was directly under Maria’s path just before 1am local time. The prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, has since said: “We have lost all that money can buy and replace.”

Updated

Maria just skirted to the south of the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe but it still caused powerful winds and near horizontal rain, according to video from those on the island.

Updated

Britain’s foreign office is advising against all but essential travel to Montserrat, a British overseas territory which Maria is expected to hit later on Tuesday.

There are similar warnings against travelling to the British territories of Anguilla and the Turks And Caicos islands which are on Maria’s forecast path for Wednesday and Thursday.

But there are currently no warning against travelling to the British dependency of St Kitts and Nevis, and the French island of Guadeloupe which the hurricane is forecast to skirt on Tuesday. Instead the FCO advices tourists to monitor hurricane updates.

A similar message applies to Antigua and Barbuda, which were hit by Irma, but which are just north-east of Maria’s forecast path. The advice says:

There are no reports of damage to hotels or tourist infrastructure on Antigua. The airport is open. Visitors should follow the advice of the local authorities and their tour operators.

Updated

What we know so far

  • Hurricane Maria is heading across the Caribbean sea towards Montserrat, a British overseas territory, having made landfall on the island of Dominica at category 5 strength overnight.
  • Winds of up to 160mph (260kmh) and heavy rains lashed Dominica as the eye of the hurricane passed directly across it late on Monday.
  • With dawn yet to break, there has been no confirmation of deaths or injuries from the first category five hurricane in recorded history to hit Dominica, but the prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit – who had to be rescued from his own flooded home – said he feared the worst and begged other countries for help.
  • Skerrit said there was widespread damage, with roofs swept from buildings. Reports said the island’s Princess Margaret hospital, in the capital Roseau, was battered, and radio stations stopped broadcasting as the storm crashed over the island of 72,000 people.
  • Maria has since skirted to the south of the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe, heading towards Montserrat and St Kitts & Nevis.
  • It has dipped slightly to category four, with wind speeds of 155mph (250kmh). But the US National Hurricane Center warned:

Maria is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous category 4 or 5 hurricane while it approaches the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

On the forecast track, the eye of Maria will move over the north-eastern Caribbean Sea today, and approach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico tonight and Wednesday.

  • Relief efforts in the British and US Virgin Islands after the devastation of Hurricane Irma have been halted as residents brace themselves for another onslaught.
  • Puerto Rico is also preparing itself for what could be the strongest hurricane to slam the island for almost a century. On Monday, public safety commissioner Hector Pesquera told residents in homes not built to withstand such intense winds to move to shelters:

You have to evacuate. Otherwise you’re going to die. I don’t know how to make this any clearer.

Updated

Guadeloupe will be spared the full brunt of Hurricane Maria, it seems, with the eye of the storm skimming south-west of the island.

It will not be spared the eyewall, however, which has been lashing the island with rain and wind gusts of up to 68mph (110kmh), according to the Trinidad and Tobago weather centre.

Next in its path is the British overseas territory of Montserrat.

Hurricane Maria is now hurtling towards islands that escaped the brunt of Irma – including Guadeloupe, Montserrat and St Kitts & Nevis.

But it is then forecast to head for the US and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

The Virgin Islands suffered widespread devastation from Hurricane Irma and relief efforts there are currently hampered – or halted – by the approaching Maria.

All residents in the British Virgin Islands have been told to take shelter immediately.

Brigadier John Ridge, the second in command of the UK’s Joint Task Force, warned:

They are either going to get the wind, which will pick up all the debris that is lying around – and also, irritatingly, where they have made progress in getting covers over the houses and power lines up, it will potentially damage that again.

Or they get a huge amount of rain, which is also bad because of the blockages in the drainage channels, so the potential for some quite serious flooding as well.

Whatever happens, it doesn’t look good, sadly.

They had an hour’s rain a few days ago and that created four foot of flooding, so if you get potentially 12 hours of rain you can imagine how much worse that will be.

There are already 1,300 UK troops in the region for the aftermath of Irma, and more supplies are due to arrive this weekend when HMS Ocean reaches the Caribbean.

Irma relief efforts on the British Virgin Islands have been halted as Hurricane Maria approaches.
Irma relief efforts on the British Virgin Islands have been halted as Hurricane Maria approaches. Photograph: LPhot Joel Rouse/EPA

Updated

As well as hurricane-force winds, one of Maria’s most dangerous effects is life-threatening flooding.

The US National Hurricane Center predicts the following rainfall as Maria works its way across the Caribbean between now and Thursday:

  • Central and southern Leeward Islands: 10 to 15 inches (25-38cm), isolated 20 inches (50cm).
  • US and British Virgin Islands: 10 to 15 inches, isolated 20 inches.
  • Puerto Rico: 12 to 18 inches, isolated 25 inches.
  • Northern Leeward Islands from Barbuda to Anguilla: 4 to 8 inches, isolated 10 inches.
  • Windward Islands and Barbados: 2 to 4 inches, isolated 6 inches.
  • Eastern Dominican Republic: 4 to 8 inches, isolated 12 inches.

And it warns: “Rainfall on all of these islands could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.”

Next in Maria’s sights is Guadeloupe, where residents were ordered to stay inside from 8pm Monday (it’s currently 2.20am Tuesday there).

Winds and rain are already pummelling the French overseas territory, where officials are warning people not to go outside “under any circumstances”.

This gif shows the direction Maria took as it tracked right across the island of Dominica, with wind speeds of 160mph (260kmh) and flooding rains:

Dominica PM: 'We will need help'

Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of Dominica, has posted an update on Facebook in which he asks for help for his devastated island:

Initial reports are of widespread devastation. So far we have lost all what money can buy and replace.

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.

So far the winds have swept away the roofs of almost every person I have spoken to or otherwise made contact with. The roof to my own official residence was among the first to go and this apparently triggered an avalanche of torn-away roofs in the city and the countryside.

Come tomorrow morning we will hit the road, as soon as the all-clear is given, in search of the injured and those trapped in the rubble.

I am honestly not preoccupied with physical damage at this time, because it is devastating … indeed, mind-boggling. My focus now is in rescuing the trapped and securing medical assistance for the injured.

We will need help, my friend, we will need help of all kinds.

It is too early to speak of the condition of the air and seaports, but I suspect both will be inoperable for a few days. That is why I am eager now to solicit the support of friendly nations and organisations with helicopter services, for I personally am eager to get up and get around the country to see and determine what’s needed.

Maria dips to category four

Maria’s wind speeds have dipped slightly – from 160mph (260kmh) as it crossed Dominica to 155mph (250kmh) over the Caribbean Sea now – which means the US National Hurricane Center now labels it a category four storm. But the NHC warns:

Maria is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous category 4 or 5 hurricane while it approaches the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

On the forecast track, the eye of Maria will move over the northeastern Caribbean Sea today, and approach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico tonight and Wednesday.

The latest advisory from the US National Hurricane Center – at just before 2am in the Caribbean – is that: “Maria remains an extremely dangerous hurricane after moving over Dominica.”

Maria is currently passing west-north-west of Dominica, its eye having crossed directly over the island, and is heading towards St Croix in the US Virgin Islands, still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Irma on St Thomas and St John less than two weeks ago.

Hurricane warnings remain in effect for:

  • Dominica
  • Guadeloupe
  • Montserrat
  • St Kitts & Nevis
  • US Virgin Islands
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques

What we know so far

  • Hurricane Maria has intensified quickly to a category five storm and made landfall on the Caribbean island of Dominica.
  • Winds of up to 160mph (260kmh) and heavy rains lashed the island as the eye of the hurricane passed directly across it on Monday night.
  • There is not yet confirmation of any deaths or injuries from the first category five hurricane in recorded history to hit Dominica, but the prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit – who had to be rescued from his own flooded home – said he feared the worst.
  • Skerrit said there was widespread damage, with roofs swept from buildings. Reports said the island’s Princess Margaret hospital, in the capital Roseau, was battered, and radio stations stopped broadcasting as the storm crashed over the island of 72,000 people.
  • Maria is now heading towards Guadeloupe, the British overseas territory of Montserrat, and St Kitts & Nevis, still at category five strength.
  • All residents of Guadeloupe were ordered to take shelter on Monday evening and not go out under any circumstances. The French overseas territory was being used as a base for relief efforts for islands struck by Hurricane Irma.
  • The hurricane is then forecast to swing towards the British and US Virgin Islands and to Puerto Rico, where another state of emergency has been declared.

Updated

Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of Dominica, has told Caracas-based Telesur TV that rescue teams will head out when dawn breaks on Tuesday (it is currently 1.20am local time).

Skerrit said:

My greatest fear is that we will wake to news of serious physical injury, possible deaths … Come tomorrow morning we will hit the road in search of the injured and those trapped in the rubble.

Winds have swept away the roofs of almost every person I have spoken to or otherwise made contact with.

My focus now is rescuing the trapped and securing medical assistance. We will need help of all kinds … Dominica needs support from friends for helicopter services to get around the country [and] determine what’s needed.

Updated

The eye of Hurricane Maria has stopped weakening as it crosses the Caribbean Sea just south of Guadeloupe:

As Maria moves away from Dominica, next in its sights are Guadeloupe, a French overseas territory, and Montserrat, a British overseas territory.

Press Association has spoken to Carolyne Coleby, a photographer and sheep farmer on Montserrat, as the hurricane began to approach:

“It is raining and the winds are picking up – it is going to hit us from the south, which is very serious,” Coleby said,

Montserrat escaped the clutches of Hurricane Irma relatively unscathed, but Coleby said people have been told to be “much more worried this time”.

“This is the most serious hurricane we have had so far. It is the third one in two weeks, but this is serious for us because of the direction it is approaching,” she added.

Coleby said just 5,000 people call Montserrat home, and that she has lived on the island for more than 10 years. “We have never experienced a hurricane season like this – it is just crazy, it is obviously climate change,” she said.

She said the geological makeup of the island, which includes an active volcano, could cause problems such as landslides and flooding and that the storm is “really going to impact” them.

“I was worried about Irma but it was really nothing for us – we got half an hour, an hour of rain and heavy winds and that was it after it passed.

“But this time is different because we know it is going to hit us and we know there is going to be an impact.”

The prime minister of Dominica has used Facebook to describe in harrowing detail – and in real time – his own rescue from the destruction of Hurricane Maria.

The category five storm passed directly over the island nation of Dominica on Monday night local time. Amid gusts of wind up to 260kmh (160mph) the country’s long-serving leader, Roosevelt Skerrit, rode out the storm from his home.

“The winds are merciless!” wrote 45-year-old Skerrit on Facebook. “We shall survive by the grace of God!”

An hour later as the winds increased he wrote: “We do not know what is happening outside. We not dare look out. All we are hearing is the sound of galvanize [roofing] flying. The sound of the fury of the wind. As we pray for its end!”

Skerrit said he believed his house had sustained damage, exclaiming: “Rough! Rough! Rough!”

He then confirmed it: “My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding.”

Roosevelt has not posted since telling his friends and followers: “I have been rescued.”

Updated

It has been a punishing three hours for the 72,000 residents of Dominica – and it is not yet over, warns the Trinidad and Tobago weather centre, which says the outer bands of Hurricane Maria will continue to move over the island overnight, “exacerbating the devastating flooding situation”:

The Caribbean-wide response to Hurricane Irma has been piecemeal and there needs to be a new permanent level of coordination, including better international early warning weather systems, Boris Johnson has said.

The British foreign secretary was speaking on Monday at a meeting on the margins of the United Nations general assembly convened by the UK and bringing together British ministers, the French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian, the Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders and leaders from the Caribbean.

Johnson said that “everyone is desperately worried by Hurricane Maria, currently threatening Caribbean islands”.

The meeting heard that islands such as Anguilla will take as long as two years to recover since it is totally dependent on tourism and the hotel industry is devastated.

In his most self-critical comments yet on the international response to the disaster, Johnson described the operation as “all a bit piecemeal and bit hand to mouth”:

If I am being totally honest, people have been ringing each other up and saying, ‘what can we do?’. We don’t need a gigantic new bureaucracy but we do need a smooth way to respond to what is obviously going to be an intensifying pattern of horrific weather events in the Caribbean.

What we are trying to build here is a Caribbean recovery plan. We need an automatic recovery system.

We still have to deal with Hurricane Maria and we need to get supplies to areas that have not been affected by Irma. They have not had the water proofing, and the plywood. We need to coordinate better in our predictions.

Mark Brantley, minister of foreign affairs in St Kitts and Nevis, says there is “significant damage” in Dominica, as the storm now heads towards his own islands:

Updated

Radar reports now show the eye of Hurricane Maria leaving Dominica and moving over the sea.

Of course, it drags behind it an eyewall, with some hours of strong winds and rains yet to land on the island.

Dominica-based lawyer Anthony Astaphan told Antigua’s Observer Media Group that the wind was “savage”:

We lost the roof. My total upstairs, the ceiling and everything collapsed. I have two inches of water downstairs.

My god, I can only feel the pain of those who don’t have the house that I have. It was terrible and I just hope people didn’t die.

The US Virgin Islands are bracing themselves for the arrival of Hurricane Maria within 24 hours.

Governor Kenneth Mapp urged residents to finish their preparations for shelter and supplies, adding:

We are going to have a very, very long night.

Maria is forecast to travel 22 miles (35km) south of the island of St Croix.

The islands of St Thomas and St John were badly damaged by Hurricane Irma and remain at risk of further devastating winds and rains.

Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of Dominica, has been speaking to Caracas-based Telesur TV about the devastation wrought by Maria – the scale of which has yet to be assessed.

Skerrit told the station he was rescued from his flooded home by police officers.

Please tell the world that Dominica has been devastated … In the morning we will know how many dead there are …

We were brutally hit.

What does it feel like to be in the midst of a hurricane? Neuroscientist Dr Daniel Glaser explains:

The Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale describes the effects on structures and people, but not what it would feel like. Hearing is the sense most frequently invoked, with winds sounding like a train or a low howl.

Of course, the most basic response to these events is fear and awe. Our brain generates the fear and that triggers the gut, which feeds back to the brain. The sensation is really part of an indirect loop. If the hurricane struck your body directly that would be a very different story.

There has been no news of casualties from Dominica so far – but, reports Associated Press, this could be because emergency services are yet to leave shelter:

Late Monday, a police official, Inspector Pellam Jno Baptiste, said there were no immediate reports of casualties but it was still too dangerous for officers to do a full assessment as the storm raged outside.

“Where we are, we can’t move,” he said in a brief phone interview.

Hurricane warnings remain in effect for:

  • Dominica
  • Guadeloupe
  • Montserrat
  • St Kitts & Nevis
  • US Virgin Islands
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques

Latest hurricane report

The latest advisory from the US National Hurricane Center confirms that Maria is moving over Dominica as a category five hurricane.

It warns:

Hurricane conditions should continue over Dominica during the next few hours. Hurricane conditions should spread throughout portions of the hurricane warning area in the Leeward Islands tonight and early Tuesday. Hurricane conditions should spread through the remainder of the hurricane warning area [which includes the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico] Tuesday and Wednesday.

Storm surges remain an extreme danger, it says:

A dangerous storm surge accompanied by large and destructive waves will raise water levels by as much as 7 to 11 feet (2.1m-3.4m) above normal tide levels in the hurricane warning area near where the centre of Maria moves across the Leeward Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.

Updated

Maria is the first category five hurricane in recorded history to hit Dominica.

In 1979, Hurricane David hit the island as a category four storm, the deadliest to date. In all, 56 people died and three-quarters of the population were left homeless.

The US National Hurricane Center has warned that Maria could yet become more intense, Associated Press reports:

“Maria is developing the dreaded pinhole eye,” the center warned.

That’s a sign of an extremely strong hurricane likely to get even mightier, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. Just like when a spinning ice skater brings in their arms and rotates faster, a smaller, tighter eye shows the same physics, he said.

Maria’s eye shrank to a narrow 10 miles (16km) across. “You just don’t see those in weaker hurricanes,” McNoldy said.

Forecasts expect Hurricane Maria to hit Puerto Rico on Tuesday night and Wednesday.

On Monday, Hector Pesquera, Puerto Rico’s public safety commissioner, told residents in homes not built to withstand such intense winds to move to shelters:

You have to evacuate. Otherwise you’re going to die. I don’t know how to make this any clearer.

Rationing has been introduced in the US territory – still recovering from Hurricane Irma – with water, milk, formula milk, canned food, batteries and flashlights all in short supply.

Radio station Wice QFM, based in Domica’s capital, Roseau, still appears to be broadcasting. There is a live link here.

One caller to the station has been describing “killer winds”.

The host says there has been “constant, constant … pounding rain”.

Dominica’s DBS radio station had been broadcasting news as the hurricane swirled across the island, reporting damage to the roof of the Princess Margaret hospital in the capital, Roseau.

Shortly after reporting that something had crashed into the station building, DBS has now gone quiet.

The eye of the hurricane crosses the centre of Dominica – with more strong winds and rainfall to come as the eastern eyewall makes its way across the island:

Guadeloupe residents ordered to take shelter

While Dominica takes the full force of Hurricane Maria, other islands have already been raked by its outer winds and rains, with yet others still preparing for its arrival, Agence France-Presse reports:

Guadeloupe – the bridgehead for aid for Irma-hit French territories – ordered all residents to take shelter in a maximum-level “violet alert” effective from 8pm local time as powerful rains drenched the French Caribbean island.

St Kitts and Nevis, the British island of Montserrat, and the islands of Culebra and Vieques were also on alert.

On Martinique, which is also part of France, energy supplier EDF said power had been cut off from 16,000 homes, although a hurricane warning on that island was later downgraded to a tropical storm.

In rain-lashed St Lucia, which also faced a tropical storm warning, flooding, mudslides and power outages were reported in parts of the island.

Two years ago, in August 2015, Tropical Storm Erika hit Dominica, killing 31 people and destroying more than 370 homes. Many towns were cut off as roads were blocked and power was lost in what was at that point the most devastating storm to lash Dominica since Hurricane David in 1979.

Erika had wind speeds of a maximum 50mph (85kmh) – much less than Maria’s 160mph (260kmh).

In 2015, prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit said damage from Erika could set the island’s development back two decades.

Jackson says disaster plans are also being put into place for St Kitts and Nevis “as a precaution”.

Ronald Jackson, director of the Caribbean disaster and emergency management agency, says:

CARICOM [Caribbean Community] Disaster Relief United being readied for deployment to Dominica at earliest opportunity.

Rapid needs and damage assessment teams [are] being readied for deployment to Dominica

I fear this is going to be a long September. One to be remembered.

Updated

In Guadeloupe – which could be the next island to feel Maria’s full force – winds have already picked up speed and the rains are intensifying:

As Maria approached, Agence France-Presse reported on the islanders making preparations for the catastrophic storm:

Residents flocked to supermarkets to stock up on essentials as island officials warned people living in low-lying areas or along rivers to move to high ground.

“Just ready to ride out storm at best. With a little prayer on the side,” said school teacher Leandra Lander.

Lander collected water, charged her electronic devices and ensured her important documents were safe. “My work place is secured and so is my home,” she said.

The island’s airport and ports have been closed, and the local water company shut down its systems to protect its intake valves from debris churned up by the storm.

The government opened all the island’s shelters.

Dominican prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit warned residents to be especially cautious.

“Let us take it seriously and use the time that we have to prepare ourselves adequately,” he told a news conference.

Many islanders still remember the massive destruction and death caused by David, another category five hurricane that struck in 1979.

Business owners could be seen boarding up their properties earlier in the day, as they prepared to ride out this storm.

The Trinidad and Tobago weather centre, citing local radio, says the roofs of many buildings “have already been torn off and severe damage has occurred” across Dominica.

The tiny outline overlapped by the eye of Hurricane Maria is Dominica – it has now been swallowed up by the storm’s eyewall, with winds of 160mph (260kph) as it lashes the island.

Dominica’s prime minister now says he has been rescued – from his roofless home:

Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of Dominica, has posted on his official Facebook page that his “roof is gone” and he is “at the complete mercy of the hurricane”:

 

Around 70,000 people live in Dominica, the first island struck by Hurricane Maria.

Chamberlain Emanuel, head of the environment commission at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, warned before landfall:

It’s really a desperate situation.

We’re trying to be resilient but the vulnerability is just too high.

The US National Hurricane Center forecast predicts that Maria will head west-north-west from Dominica, with islands in its path – Guadeloupe, Montserrat and St Kitts & Nevis most immediately – bracing for winds of up to 160mph (260kph):

On the forecast track, the core of Maria will move near Dominica and the adjacent Leeward Islands during the next few hours [Tuesday evening], over the extreme northeastern Caribbean Sea the remainder of tonight and Tuesday, and approach Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Even before Hurricane Maria arrived in full force on Dominica – at around 9pm Monday local time (01.00 Tuesday GMT) – tropical storm-force winds were felling trees and damaging buildings across the island:

Updated

The following islands – some of them still in the early stages of recovery from Hurricane Irma – are currently on hurricane warnings:

  • Dominica
  • Guadeloupe
  • Montserrat
  • St Kitts and Nevis
  • US Virgin Islands
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques

The latest update from the US National Hurricane Center warned that Maria has become a “potentially catastrophic category five hurricane … The eye and intense inner core is nearing Dominica”.

The eyewall has now barrelled into Dominica’s eastern coast, crossing towards the island’s capital, Roseau, on the south-west side.

Hurricane Maria makes landfall

Hurricane Maria – which over the course of barely 50 hours has intensified from a tropical storm to a category five hurricane – has hit Dominica, in the eastern Caribbean.

The island was spared the wrath of Hurricane Irma, but now faces devastation as it is raked by winds of 160mph (260kph).

Maria is expected to cross Dominica and adjacent islands over the next few hours, before heading towards Puerto Rico and the British and US Virgin Islands.

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