Catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Maria is headed for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Hurricane Maria is headed for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as a powerful Category 5 storm with 165-mph winds. Maria made landfall on the island of Dominica at 9:15 p.m. ET on Monday and was the first Category 5 storm in history there. Early reports indicate “widespread devastation” on Dominica. Forecasts show Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the direct path of Maria, which could hit late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

Hurricane Maria is marauding through the Caribbean, devastating the island of Dominica and now churning toward Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Maria is a powerful, life-threatening Category 5 storm with sustained winds of at least 165 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center’s latest forecast and update.

Maria made landfall on the island of Dominica at 9:15 p.m. ET on Monday. Although the destruction is still being assessed, Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of Dominica, wrote on his Facebook page: “Initial reports are of widespread devastation … The winds have swept away the roofs of almost every person I have spoken to or otherwise made contact with.”

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are in Maria’s path – the eye of the storm is likely to hit Puerto Rico late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

It’s still too soon to say whether Florida or other parts of the continental US will be in the storm’s path after it crosses the Caribbean. For now, at least, it looks as though Maria will turn north before reaching Florida.

Hurricane warnings are currently in effect for the British and US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Culebra, Vieques, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, and parts of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Puerto Plata. Those locations are likely to see hurricane conditions within the next 36 hours. The NHC says preparations for life-threatening storm surge, rainfall flooding, and destructive winds “should be rushed to completion” in these areas.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Saba, St. Eustatius, Guadeloupe, Sint Maarten, and the Dominican Republic from Puerto Plata to the Haiti border and from Cabo Engano to Punta Palenque.

Hurricane watches – meaning hurricane conditions are possible within the next two days – are in effect for Saba, St. Eustatius, the island of St. Martin, St. Barts, Anguilla, and from Isla Saona to Cabo Engano in the Dominican Republic.

The NHC may issue additional watches and warnings on Tuesday.

Hit by a Category 5 storm

Maria is the first Category 5 storm in recorded history to hit the island of Dominica. The last and only Category 4 storm to directly hit the island nation, Hurricane David in 1979, killed more than 50 people and left 60,000 homeless.

Dominica is home to roughly 70,000 people.

“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,” Skerrit wrote on Facebook.

The nearby island of Guadeloupe was also slammed by the storm, with serious flooding, damage to buildings, and widespread power losses.

Maria lost some strength as its eye moved over Dominica but quickly regained its Category 5 status Tuesday morning.

Preparations for Maria are being rushed to completion in Puerto Rico, where many are just starting to recover from Hurricane Irma. The island avoided a direct hit from that storm, but Irma’s powerful storm surge and winds still caused many residents to lose power. In the Virgin Islands, the soldiers who arrived to provide relief after Hurricane Irma have been evacuated.

Puerto Rico declared a state of emergency on Monday, activating the National Guard to help the island prepare.

The public safety commissioner of Puerto Rico told those in evacuation zones: “You have to evacuate. Otherwise, you’re going to die.”

On St. Thomas and St. John in the Virgin Islands, residents have been urged to leave their homes for government shelters, since Irma damaged many houses. President Donald Trump also approved an emergency declaration for the Virgin Islands on Monday, giving the Federal Emergency Management Agency the go-ahead to coordinate disaster relief efforts there.

“Take this event seriously,” Gov. Kenneth Mapp of the US Virgin Islands said at a press conference Sunday. “You cannot stay in those facilities. You will not survive.”

He urged people who decide to stay in their homes to write their Social Security numbers on their bodies so they could be identified easily in a worst-case scenario.

Waters are expected to reach 6 to 9 feet above normal levels as the storm surge arrives in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Storm surge in the British Virgin Islands could be as much as 7 to 11 feet above normal.

Total rainfall in the Virgin Islands is expected to be between 10 and 15 inches, with isolated areas receiving 20 inches. In Puerto Rico, rainfall is estimated to be 12 to 18 inches, with some areas receiving 25 inches.

An unusually active hurricane season

Maria is the seventh hurricane of an unusually active Atlantic hurricane season, making this only the ninth year on record with seven hurricanes by September 17. There have been 13 named storms so far – the average by September 18 is 7.6.

This season is also significantly ahead of the average measures for major hurricane days and accumulated cyclone energy (a measure of storm strength, duration, and frequency). As a major hurricane, Maria is pushing those measures even further ahead.

On Friday, Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Project issued a two-week forecast of above-normal cyclone activity for the Atlantic basin.

Hurricane Jose is still moving up the East Coast but is likely to stay offshore. The storm is nonetheless bringing tropical storm conditions – including winds, rainfall, and dangerous surf – to coastal and Mid-Atlantic areas.

Erin Brodwin contributed to this post.