Hurricane Maria, which slammed into Puerto Rico early this morning as a Category 4, is the most powerful storm to hit the island in more than 80 years.
Maria is the first Category 4 hurricane to hit the island since 1932. It made landfall near Yabucoa with wind speeds up to 155 mph, and had fully covered the 100-mile-long island by midmorning.
The hurricane felled trees, peeled roofs from buildings and cut power to nearly all of Puerto Rico, according to a
Washington Post report.
“On the forecast track, (Maria) would be the most destructive hurricane in Puerto Rico history,” National Hurricane Center forecaster Eric Blake said in a tweet.
The storm devastated some areas. The community of Juan Matos in Cataño saw 80% of its structures destroyed, the
Post reported. Cataño’s mayor reported that half the city’s municipal employees lost their homes.
“The area is completely flooded. Water got into the houses,” the mayor told newspaper
El Nuevo Dia. “The houses have no roof. Most of them are made of wood and zinc, and electric poles fell on them.”
Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rosselló told NBC’s
Today show that conditions on the island were “deterioirating rapidly,” and while most buildings that meet newer construction codes should be able to make it through the storm, wooden homes in flood-prone areas “have no chance.”
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