Hurricane Maria grows into a Category 5 storm and makes landfall in the storm-battered Caribbean
Source: Los Angeles Times
Hurricane Maria grows into a Category 5 storm and makes landfall in the storm-battered Caribbean
By Melissa Etehad
SEPTEMBER 18, 2017, 6:40 PM
Hurricane Maria, a dangerous Category 5 storm, reached the island of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean on Monday night with sustained winds of 160 mph, forecasters said.
It was expected to deliver destructive waves, a storm surge of up to 9 feet, flooding and mudslides along a path that the National Hurricane Center said includes Guadeloupe, the Leeward Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, where it was expected to arrive as soon as Tuesday night.
The storm was moving northwest at 9 mph Monday night as it struck Dominica, a nation of roughly 74,000 people located less than 400 miles southeast of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello declared a state of emergency Monday, activated the National Guard and closed all schools.
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http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-hurricane-maria-caribbean-20170918-story.html