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The " passing dangerous " Category 4 Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico this dawn , with sustained winds raging at up to 155 miles per hour ( 250 k / h ) , grant to the National Hurricane Center ( NHC ) .
As of 8 a.m. ET , the hurricane ’s optic was over southeast Puerto Rico and winds had die down to a still - peril 150 mph ( 240 km / h ) , the NHC reported . Hurricane Maria is the first Category 4 hurricane to make landfall in Puerto Rico since 1932 , according to tidings paper . The storm attain southeast Puerto Rico , near the metropolis of Yabucoa , CNN account .
NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite captured this image of Hurricane Maria approaching the Leeward Islands today, 24 December 2024.
The hurricane smacked into Dominica Tuesday night ( Sept. 18 ) , devastating the Caribbean island as a Category 5 storm . The island body politic ’s prime minister posted on Facebook that the roof were torn off the homes of almost every person he had verbalise to . " My ceiling is gone . I am at the all over mercy of the hurricane , " Roosevelt Skerrit post . Inanother Facebook post , the prime diplomatic minister pronounce , " Initial reports are of widespread devastation . So far we have drop off all [ t]hat money can buy and supplant . My greatest veneration for the morning is that we will waken to news of serious strong-arm injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides triggered by persistent rains . "
Evacuation orders were called for four areas in Puerto Rico on Tuesday ( Sept. 18),ABC News report . thousand of people had look for recourse from the violent storm in shelters , according to the island ’s regulator : " As of 2:30 a.m. we count 10,059 refugee and 189 pets ( in shelters ) , " Ricardo Rosselló , wrote in a tweet today , as reported by CNN .
Currently , the NHC is predicting big storm surges between 6 and 9 feet ( 1.8 and 2.7 meters ) on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands . The hurricane is also look to dump about 25 inches ( 63.5 cm ) of rainfall in some isolated pockets of Puerto Rico . [ Hurricane Season 2017 Guide ]
Though Puerto Rico was slam byHurricane Irma , it put off the bad potential impacts of the storm . Irma dinge the coastline of Puerto Rico with 30 - foot - high-pitched ( 9 m ) waves and down power agate line and trees , but the eye of the violent storm lack the U.S. territory .
Currently , hurricane - force nothingness extend 60 miles ( 95 km ) from the eye of the violent storm , while tropical - violent storm - force malarky extend 150 miles ( 240 km ) from the center , the NHC reported .
A hurricane warning is in outcome for :
Another storm , Hurricane Jose , is presently hang around farther north in the Atlantic , and is presently contrive to induce gamy tides and breakers in areas of New England , consort to the NHC .
Originally published onLive Science .
