Social The 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season (Harvey/Irma/Maria PBP)

I feel sorry for Puerto Rico. They barely managed to dodge Irma, but two weeks later Maria is headed straight for them. I don't think they have the money for reconstruction too. It may be the final straw for that territory.
 
Hurricane Maria: Whole of Puerto Rico without power

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Hurricane Maria has knocked out power to the entire island of Puerto Rico, home to 3.5m people, emergency officials have said.

Abner Gómez, head of the disaster management agency, said none of the customers of Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority had any electricity.

The US National Hurricane Center said "catastrophic" flooding was sweeping parts of the island.

Maria is moving away from Puerto Rico, weakening to a category two storm.

"When we are able to go outside, we are going to find our island destroyed," Mr Gómez was quoted as saying by the El Nuevo Dia newspaper.

"It's a system that has destroyed everything in its path."

The US territory's governor, Ricardo Rossello, issued a curfew for 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday evening through early Saturday morning.

Earlier, Mr Rossello asked President Donald Trump to declare the island a disaster area after the storm unleashed heavy flooding and life-threatening winds.

He said major damage was inevitable, although 500 shelters had been established to protect people.

The devastating storm has already left seven people dead on the island of Dominica, which was badly affected on Monday.

Aerial footage shows flattened houses and the death toll on Dominica is likely to rise, with details remaining scant as communication links are down.

Images shared on social media show roofs being stripped away as winds as strong as 140 mph (225 km/h) whipped trees and power lines in Puerto Rico's capital city, San Juan.

The US territory is facing $73bn (£53bn) in public debt and the damage left by Maria could exacerbate its financial crisis. Declaring a disaster would mean the island could receive more federal assistance in its recovery.

"God is with us; we are stronger than any hurricane," Mr Rossello said. "Together we will rise again."

Maria made landfall in Yabucoa in the east of Puerto Rico early on Wednesday as a category four storm, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC). It was the first category four hurricane to directly hit the island since 1932.

Hours earlier, Maria barreled through the US Virgin Islands' St Croix as a category five storm, sustaining winds of up to 175mph (281km/h).

There was flooding in the French territory of Guadeloupe, where one person was killed by a falling tree and another died on the seafront. At least two others were missing after their ship sank near Desirade, the easternmost island in the archipelago.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41340392
 
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Absolutely horrific stuff. I feel like these storms should be killing people in the thousands but fortunately we have hurricane warning systems likely saving many thousands of people.
 
Scary shit. As a Florida resident, I am hoping God, global warming, whatever takes mercy on my beloved Caribbean....I think that's enough hurricanes, no mas!
 
AlexDB9 said:
Scary shit. As a Florida resident, I am hoping God, global warming, whatever takes mercy on my beloved Caribbean....I think that's enough hurricanes, no mas!
Click to expand...

The 2017 hurricane season is projected by NOAA to lasts until November 30, and we still have 8 reserved names remaining for further storm developments: Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince and Whitney.
 
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