MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Maria has intensified into a dangerous Category 4 storm as it bears down on the Caribbean.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Monday the storm is growing in strength as it approaches land. The eye of the storm is expected to pass near the island of Dominica on Monday evening.

The center called the storm “extremely dangerous,” with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph).

At 5 p.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 45 miles (70 kilometers) east-southeast of Dominica.

A Hurricane warning has been issued for Puerto Rico, Culebra, and Vieques.

Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook</s>Hurricane Maria is a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 in the Atlantic heading to Puerto Rico and leaving many on the U.S. mainland wondering what states it could impact. Will its path affect Florida, Georgia, North or South Carolina, or any other states? Hurricanes can be quite unpredictable at this stage, but the newest forecasts show the storm continuing its northward turn and possibly not making direct landfall in Florida, the Carolinas, or anywhere else on the U.S. mainland coast. It’s too soon to know for certain what Maria will do, however, so it’s a good idea to stay updated on the latest NOAA forecasts and maps.

The map above shows a cone estimating the probable path of the center of Irma. It does not reflect the size of the storm. Any predicted hurricane warnings are in red above, and tropical storm warnings are in blue. Hurricane watches are in pink and tropical storm watches are in yellow. As you can see, the cone does not yet extend to the United States or Florida, because the hurricane is still far away.

As of 10 p.m., Maria had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph. She was located at 17.2 N, 64.5 W, moving WNW at 10 mph with a minimum pressure of 909 mb.

This general motion is expected to continue through Wednesday night, the NOAA’s National Hurricane Center has reported tonight.

The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center has the eye of Maria moving near St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands tonight, crossing Puerto Rico on Wednesday, and passing north of the Dominican Republic Wednesday night and Thursday.

Next is the another map from the National Hurricane Center estimating where the center of the storm will go.

Google now has a fascinating “Crisis Map” for Maria created by Google Crisis Response. See the full map here. Below is what it looks like at the time of publication. The map also shows Jose if you move north:

And here’s a spaghetti model for Maria. Spaghetti models currently show the storm heading well east of Florida and the Carolinas, possibly not making landfall in the U.S. Hopefully these paths hold. See more discussion about spaghetti models here.

Here’s an experimental map showing when tropical storm force winds will arrive next. Wind predictions have shifted, with Florida and the Carolinas possibly missing tropical storm force winds if the current direction holds. Hurricane force winds extend 35 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend up to 140 miles from the center.

Wind speed probabilities can be viewed in this map. These are probabilities for 2 p.m. Tuesday through 2 p.m. Sunday. The wind speeds are mixing a bit with Jose’s wind speeds up north.

Here are some additional maps. This one shows Maria possibly going through an eyewall replacement cycle, which could temporarily lower the hurricane’s category, but it might strengthen again after that.

It’s still expected by many experts to be a Category 5 when it reaches Puerto Rico:

Here’s a look at charts comparing Maria’s pressure to Wilma’s record:</s>Hurricane Maria’s winds hit a sustained 175 mph as the the storm rolled through the northeastern Caribbean in route toward the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Residents of the territories have been warned to prepare for the worst.

On Tuesday, the eye of Maria was seen moving towards St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. The Category 5 storm was 30 miles southeast of the island as of 23:00 EST Tuesday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. The center also says Maria is 120 miles southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where it is expected to make a direct hit Wednesday.

READ MORE: Maria makes landfall in Dominica as a 'potentially catastrophic' Category 5 hurricane

“The eye [of the storm] has rapidly intensified over the last 48 hours or so and it’s barreling toward the US Virgin Islands,” meteorologist Julie Phillips of WFLA said.

Extreme winds and rain pounded the Caribbean island of Dominica late on Monday, as Maria made landfall with 160 mph winds. The storm ripped off the roofs of houses as it pummeled the island as an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm, according to The National Hurricane Center.

The Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, described the storm’s winds as merciless, and said the roof of his house was blown off and his house was flooding in a post on Facebook. Skerrit later said he had been rescued from the situation.

Maria is the first Category 5 hurricane to hit Dominica in the island’s history, the Washington Post reported.

On Monday night, Maria quickly turned from a Category 1 storm to a Category 5, making it one of the fastest-growing storms in history, according to Mashable.

President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency for the Virgin Islands on Monday. This unlocked federal resources for the US territory and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security to manage all recovery efforts in the area from then on out, according to the New York Post.</s>ROSEAU, Dominica, Monday September 18, 2017 – Dominica is being pounded by Maria which has made landfall as an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane carrying maximum sustained winds near 160 miles per hour.

And what weather experts have described as a potentially catastrophic hurricane has blown the roof off the home of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit who had to be rescued as the rains flooded his home.

 Skerrit, who had earlier in the day told Dominicans to take the hurricane seriously and ensure they were as prepared as they could be, informed via Facebook of his plight.

The message about his roof being blown off and the subsequent notification that he had been rescued followed several posts in which he reported on the ferocity of the winds brought by Hurricane Maria.

In his first message about the hurricane, posted after 8 p.m., he reported that “the winds are merciless!”

He issued subsequent updates, describing what he was experiencing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami said Maria could possibly intensify tonight but some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two.

The eye of Hurricane Maria, which by 11 p.m. directly over Dominica, is moving to the west northwest at 9 miles per hour.

The NHC said that after passing Dominica, Hurricane Maria is expected to move over the northeastern Caribbean Sea tomorrow, and approach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico tomorrow night and Wednesday.</s>Sept 20 (Reuters) - Maria, which weakened into a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday, could regain major hurricane status by Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory.

Catastrophic flash flooding was occurring over portions of Puerto Rico with conditions now deteriorating over the eastern Dominican Republic, the NHC said.

The hurricane was about 25 miles (45 km) north northwest of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour (175 km per hour), the Miami-based NHC said. Any hurricane with top sustained winds of at least 111 is classified as major. (Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Brown)</s>ROSEAU, DOMINICA—Hurricane Maria smashed into Dominica with 257 kph winds, ripping the roof off even the prime minister’s residence and causing what he called “mind-boggling” devastation Tuesday as it plunged into a Caribbean region already ravaged by Hurricane Irma. Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skeritt said on his Facebook page that “initial reports are of widespread devastation” and said he feared there would be deaths due to rain-fed landslides. He said even his own house had lost its roof, adding “I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding.” Seven minutes later, he reported he had been rescued.

Fierce winds and rain lashed mountainous Dominica for hours. A police official on the island, Inspector Pellam Jno Baptiste, said late Monday night that there were no immediate reports of casualties but it was too dangerous for officers to check conditions. “Where we are, we can’t move,” he said in a brief phone interview while hunkered down against the region’s second Category 5 hurricane this month. “The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God,” Skerrit wrote at the start of a series of increasingly harrowing posts on Facebook.

Putting hurricanes and climate change into the same frame In Irma’s aftermath, Black residents of St. Martin complain France is evacuating white tourists first He then wrote that he thought his home had been damaged. And three words: “Rough! Rough! Rough!” Officials in Guadeloupe said the French island near Dominica probably would experience heavy flooding and warned that many communities could be submerged. In nearby Martinique, authorities ordered people to remain indoors and said they should be prepared for power cuts and disruption in the water supply. Authorities in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which faced the possibility of a direct hit, warned that people in wooden or flimsy homes should find safe shelter before the storm’s expected arrival there on Wednesday. “You have to evacuate. Otherwise, you’re going to die,” said Hector Pesquera, the island’s public safety commissioner. “I don’t know how to make this any clearer.” Maria had maximum sustained winds of 260 kph late Monday when it slammed into Dominica.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Maria weakened briefly before recovering sustained winds of 260 kph strength shortly before daybreak Tuesday, with its eye located about 100 kilometres west-southwest of Guadeloupe. The storm was moving west-northwest over the Caribbean at 15 kph. Forecasters warned Maria could even intensify over the next 24 hours or longer, noting its eye had shrunk to a compact 16 kilometres across and warning: “Maria is developing the dreaded pinhole eye.” That generally means an extremely strong hurricane will get even mightier, said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. He said it’s just like when a spinning ice skater brings in their arms and rotates faster. “You just don’t see those in weaker hurricanes,” he said. The storm’s hurricane-force winds extended out about 45 kilometres and tropical storm-force winds out as far as 205 kilometres. Hurricane warnings were posted for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat. A tropical storm warning was issued for Martinique, Antigua and Barbuda, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Anguilla. Forecasters said storm surge could raise water levels by 1.8 to 2.7 metres near the storm’s centre. The storm was predicted to bring 25 to 38 centimetres of rain across the islands, with more in isolated areas. Close to its path is the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where territorial Gov. Kenneth Mapp said Tuesday would be “a very, very long night.”

St. Thomas and St. John are still stunned from a direct hit by hurricane Irma, which did extensive damage and caused four deaths on the two islands. Barry University said it chartered a private plane to carry students and staff from its St. Croix facility to Florida in preparation for Maria. It said 72 people connected to the Barry’s Physician Assistant Program and a few pets were on Monday’s evacuation flight. In neighbouring Puerto Rico, nearly 70,000 people were still without power following their earlier brush with Irma and nearly 200 remained in shelters as Maria approached. Gov. Ricardo Rossello said Puerto Rico had 500 shelters capable of taking in up to 133,000 people in a worst-case scenario. He also said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was ready to bring drinking water and help restore power immediately after the storm, which could hit as a Category 5 hurricane. “That is catastrophic in every way,” said Roberto Garcia with the National Weather Service in San Juan. “People have to act, and they have to act now. They can no longer wait for a miracle.” To the north, hurricane Jose stirred up dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast, though forecasters said the storm was unlikely to make landfall. Big waves caused by Jose swept five people off a coastal jetty in Rhode Island and they were hospitalized after being rescued. A tropical storm warning was posted for coastal areas in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and tropical storm watches were up for parts of New York’s Long Island and Connecticut. Jose’s centre was about 590 kilometres south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, early Tuesday and moving north at 15 kph. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 120 kph.</s>ROSEAU, Dominica | Hurricane Maria smashed into Dominica with 160 mph winds, ripping the roof off even the prime minister’s residence and causing what he called “mind-boggling” devastation Tuesday as it plunged into a Caribbean region already ravaged by Hurricane Irma.

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skeritt said on his Facebook page that “initial reports are of widespread devastation” and said he feared there would be deaths due to rain-fed landslides.

He said even his own house had lost its roof, adding “I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding.” Seven minutes later, he reported he had been rescued.

Maria’s eye roared over the island late Monday night before the storm briefly dropped to Category 4 strength early Tuesday before resuming its extremely dangerous Category 5 status.

Men remove a boat from the water ahead of Hurricane Maria in the Galbas area of Sainte-Anne on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, early Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. Hurricane Maria grew into a Category 3 storm on Monday as it barreled toward a potentially devastating collision with islands in the eastern Caribbean. (AP Photo/Dominique Chomereau-Lamotte) Men remove boats from the water ahead of Hurricane Maria in the Galbas area of Sainte-Anne on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, early Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. Hurricane Maria grew into a Category 3 storm on Monday as it barreled toward a potentially devastating collision with islands in the eastern Caribbean. (AP Photo/Dominique Chomereau-Lamotte) A man pulls in a boat ahead of Hurricane Maria in the Galbas area of Sainte-Anne on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, early Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. Hurricane Maria grew into a Category 3 storm on Monday as it barreled toward a potentially devastating collision with islands in the eastern Caribbean. (AP Photo/Dominique Chomereau-Lamotte) Men board up buildings ahead of Hurricane Maria in Sainte-Anne on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. Hurricane Maria grew into a Category 3 storm on Monday as it barreled toward a potentially devastating collision with islands in the eastern Caribbean. (AP Photo/Dominique Chomereau-Lamotte) This Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, GOES East satellite image provided by NASA taken at 20:30 UTC, shows the eye of Hurricane Maria as it nears Dominica. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Monday evening that Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter planes found that Maria had strengthened into a storm with 160 mph (260 kph) winds. (NASA via AP) Dutch Marines help out the local population in preparation for the arrival Hurricane Maria, in Oranjestad, Statia, on the Leeward Islands, Monday, Sept. 18 2017. Maria has intensified into a Category 5 hurricane as its eye is approaching Dominica in the eastern Caribbean, the U.S. Hurricane Center said in a statement on Monday evening. (AP Photo/Stephan Kogelman) Two local women chat as a Dutch Marine helps out in preparation for the arrival Hurricane Maria, in Oranjestad, Statia, on the Leeward Islands, Monday, Sept. 18 2017. Maria has intensified into a Category 5 hurricane as its eye is approaching Dominica in the eastern Caribbean, the U.S. Hurricane Center said in a statement on Monday evening. (AP Photo/Stephan Kogelman)

Fierce winds and rain lashed mountainous Dominica for hours. A police official on the island, Inspector Pellam Jno Baptiste, said late Monday night that there were no immediate reports of casualties but it was too dangerous for officers to check conditions.

“Where we are, we can’t move,” he said in a brief phone interview while hunkered down against the region’s second Category 5 hurricane this month.

“The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God,” Skerrit wrote at the start of a series of increasingly harrowing posts on Facebook.

A few minutes later, he messaged he could hear the sound of galvanized steel roofs tearing off houses on the small rugged island.

He then wrote that he thought his home had been damaged. And three words: “Rough! Rough! Rough!”

Officials in Guadeloupe said the French island near Dominica probably would experience heavy flooding and warned that many communities could be submerged. In nearby Martinique, authorities ordered people to remain indoors and said they should be prepared for power cuts and disruption in the water supply.

Authorities in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which faced the possibility of a direct hit, warned that people in wooden or flimsy homes should find safe shelter before the storm’s expected arrival there on Wednesday.

“You have to evacuate. Otherwise, you’re going to die,” said Hector Pesquera, the island’s public safety commissioner. “I don’t know how to make this any clearer.”

Maria had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph) late Monday when it slammed into Dominica.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Maria weakened briefly before recovering sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph) strength shortly before daybreak Tuesday, with its eye located about 65 miles (100 kilometers) west-southwest of Guadeloupe. The storm was moving west-northwest over the Caribbean at 9 mph (15 kph).

Forecasters warned Maria could even intensify over the next 24 hours or longer, noting its eye had shrunk to a compact 10 miles across and warning: “Maria is developing the dreaded pinhole eye.”

That generally means an extremely strong hurricane will get even mightier, said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. He said it just like when a spinning ice skater brings in their arms and rotates faster.

“You just don’t see those in weaker hurricanes,” he said.

The storm’s hurricane-force winds extended out about 35 miles (45 kilometers) and tropical storm-force winds out as far as 125 miles (205 kilometers).

Hurricane warnings were posted for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat. A tropical storm warning was issued for Martinique, Antigua and Barbuda, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Anguilla.

Forecasters said storm surge could raise water levels by 6 to 9 feet (1.8 to 2.7 meters) near the storm’s center. The storm was predicted to bring 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 centimeters) of rain across the islands, with more in isolated areas.

Close to its path is the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where territorial Gov. Kenneth Mapp said Tuesday would be “a very, very long night.”

St. Thomas and St. John are still stunned from a direct hit by Hurricane Irma, which did extensive damage and caused four deaths on the two islands.

Barry University said it chartered a private plane to carry students and staff from its St. Croix facility to Florida in preparation for Maria. It said 72 people connected to the Barry’s Physician Assistant Program and a few pets were on Monday’s evacuation flight.

In neighboring Puerto Rico, nearly 70,000 people were still without power following their earlier brush with Irma and nearly 200 remained in shelters as Maria approached.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello said Puerto Rico had 500 shelters capable of taking in up to 133,000 people in a worst-case scenario. He also said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was ready to bring drinking water and help restore power immediately after the storm, which could hit as a Category 5 hurricane.

“That is catastrophic in every way,” said Roberto Garcia with the National Weather Service in San Juan. “People have to act, and they have to act now. They can no longer wait for a miracle.”

To the north, Hurricane Jose stirred up dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast, though forecasters said the storm was unlikely to make landfall. Big waves caused by Jose swept five people off a coastal jetty in Rhode Island and they were hospitalized after being rescued.

A tropical storm warning was posted for coastal areas in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and tropical storm watches were up for parts of New York’s Long Island and Connecticut. Jose’s center was about 365 miles (590 kilometers) south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, early Tuesday and moving north at 9 mph (15 kph). The storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).

Associated Press writers Ben Fox in Miami, Seth Borenstein in Washington and Carlisle Jno Baptiste in Roseau Dominica contributed to this report.</s>Warnings and watches lit up across the Caribbean on Monday as Hurricane Maria gained strength and roared toward islands already hobbled by the carnage of Hurricane Irma.

Maria, which grew to a Category 5 hurricane Monday night, had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph at 8 p.m. ET. At 9:15 p.m. ET Monday, the ferocious storm had touched land on Dominica, the National Hurricane Center said.

After pounding Dominica with high winds, Maria weakened slightly to a still-dangerous Category 4 storm.

The National Hurricane Center said early Tuesday that top sustained winds had fallen slightly to 155 mph and that high winds were starting to diminish over Dominica.

The storm is moving west-northwest at 9 mph on a course that threatens other parts of the Caribbean including Puerto Rico.

In a series of Facebook posts, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit captured the fury of the storm as it made landfall on the mountainous island.

“The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God,” Skerrit wrote at the start of a series of increasingly harrowing posts. He later said: “My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding.”

Seven minutes later Skerrit posted that he had been rescued.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said the government has prepared hundreds of shelters capable of housing more than 100,000 evacuees if necessary.

The National Weather Service in Puerto Rico warned that "catastrophic winds" are expected from Maria beginning Tuesday afternoon. "Locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months."

In addition, "major to record rains and flooding are expected to accompany Maria," the weather service said.

It is still too early to determine whether the storm will impact the U.S. East Coast — and any threat would not be until early next week — but a strike on Florida is still a possibility.

"We may luck out and it turns north before reaching Florida," AccuWeather meteorologist Dave Samuhel said. "Unfortunately, it looks like blocking high pressure could force it into Florida. Definitely something we are watching."

Due to the uncertain path of Hurricane Jose, it's "much too early to judge what portions of the U.S. East Coast or Canada might be threatened by Maria next week," according to Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters.

“This storm promises to be catastrophic for our island,” said Ernesto Morales of the National Weather Service in San Juan. “All of Puerto Rico will experience hurricane-force winds.”

But first, the U.S. Virgin Islands likely will face "at least a glancing blow if not a full-on landfall" late Tuesday or early Wednesday, Samuhel said.

On St. John's, the smallest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, people lined up to flee the storm. Irma blasted across the island Sept. 7, a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 mph. Homes and businesses were blown apart and power is expected to be out for months.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic could see Maria's wrath on Wednesday.

A potential impact on the East Coast will depend on steering currents in the upper atmosphere over the western Atlantic and the eastern U.S. that can't be determined more than a week in advance, according to the Weather Channel.

© Gannett Co., Inc. 2017. All Rights Reserved</s>Overnight, Hurricane Maria thrashed the island nation of Dominica with Category 5 force winds up to 160 mph.

Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica, wrote on Facebook “Initial reports are of widespread devastation. So far we have lost all what money can buy and replace. My greatest fear for the morning is that we will wake to news of serious physical injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides triggered by persistent rains.”

Maria initially weakened to a Category 4 after passing through Dominica, but according to the latest updates from the National Hurricane Center, Maria has again strengthened to a Category 5.

Maria is set to hit the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico early Wednesday morning.

Conditions could be especially devastating for Puerto Rico, which is sheltering thousands of Caribbean residents who were displaced by Hurricane Irma.

Following Maria’s landfall on Puerto Rico, Maria is expected to take a northward turn. This turn would spare Florida entirely, but would increase the danger of her affecting the Carolina coast.

Meteorologists predict that if Maria does take this sharp of a northward turn, she could interact with Hurricane Jose, which has been circling in the upper Atlantic for days as a Category 1.

This interaction between hurricanes is called the Fujiwhara effect, named after the discoverer, Sakuhei Fujiwhara.

In this case, the Fujiwhara effect could cause a large hurricane, like Hurricane Maria, to absorb a smaller hurricane, like Jose.

While this mega hurricane sounds potentially disastrous, it would actually be good news.

As the two vortices orbit around each other, Maria could end up being thrown farther into the Atlantic, back towards Africa, sparing the mainland U.S. entirely.

While this would be a welcome scenario, it’s still too early to tell where Maria might turn and if this effect could occur.

As with Irma, we’ll just have to watch and wait.

Check back with Eagle News for the latest updates.</s>Hurricane Maria left a trail of destruction as it hit the Caribbean island of Dominica as a Category 5 storm and then battered Guadeloupe with powerful winds early Tuesday.

Forecasters warned that the storm could leave some parts of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands uninhabitable for months.

Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of Dominica, wrote on Facebook that his roof was gone, that his home was flooded and that he was "at the complete mercy of the hurricane" after Maria made landfall Monday night. A few minutes later, the politician reported that he had been rescued.

"Initial reports are of widespread devastation," Skerrit said in a later post. "So far we have lost all what money can buy and replace. So far the winds have swept away the roofs of almost every person I have spoken to or otherwise made contact with. 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."

He warned that airports and seaports were likely to be shut for days. Around 72,000 people live on the island in the Lesser Antilles.

"My focus now is in rescuing the trapped and securing medical assistance for the injured," Skerrit added. "We will need help, my friend, we will need help of all kinds."

NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins highlighted that Maria was one of the fastest intensifying hurricanes ever recorded. It blew up from a tropical storm into a major Category 5 hurricane in barely more than a day.

"Dominica had very little time to prepare for this monster," Karins said. "I fear what we will see during the daylight hours from Dominica and Guadeloupe. They had little time to prepare for the strongest storm of their lifetimes."

A U.S.-based spokeswoman for the Rosalie Bay Resort, which is located on the east coast of Dominica, told NBC News they had lost contact with staff late Monday. The last message from a manager arrived about 45 minutes after Maria made landfall and stated the situation was "really bad and very scary."

With Maria producing maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, hurricane warnings were in effect for Puerto Rico, its satellite islands of Culebra and Vieques, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

It weakened briefly overnight to Category 4 before regaining strength.

At 11 am ET, the eye of the hurricane was located about 115 miles west of Guadeloupe. The French overseas territory experienced sustained tropical storm force winds and around 80,000 households there were without power.

Maria was expected to pass near or over the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Wednesday, the hurricane center said. It warned the storm could be "potentially catastrophic."

With hurricane-force winds likely to continue across both territories for as long as 24 hours, forecasters said, Maria was shaping up to be even more destructive than Hurricane Irma, which killed at least 70 people across the Caribbean and the Southeastern United States beginning in late August.

In tandem with rain as heavy as 18 inches and storm surges forecast as high as 9 feet, conditions could leave parts of the U.S. territories "uninhabitable for weeks or months," the hurricane center said. "Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Maria is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous Category 4 or 5 hurricane while it approaches the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico."

Kenneth Mapp, governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, suspended all Irma recovery efforts to shift the focus to preparing for Maria, while President Donald Trump declared states of emergency in both territories on Monday.

The Coast Guard said it was moving personnel, cutters and aircraft in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to protect them from Maria and to position them for quick search-and-rescue missions.

On Tuesday, the French government said there was no major damage in Martinique, but 50,000 households were left without power and 10,000 more have no access to water. Four people were confirmed injured.

In Guadeloupe, the French government said, reconnaissance teams will be heading out Tuesday afternoon to assess the damage.

The British government, meanwhile, advised against all travel to the British Virgin Islands, saying it was extending the deployment of more than 1,300 military personnel already in the region to help with recovery from Irma.

"Maria is developing the dreaded pinhole eye," the National Hurricane Center said Monday — a sure sign of a particularly powerful storm.

Orelon Sidney, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, said: "It's got almost perfect conditions — low [wind] shear, warm temperatures and moisture."

Karins said it's only the second time in recorded history that two Category 5 hurricanes have made landfall in a hurricane season. The last year in which two Category 5 hurricanes hit land in the Atlantic basin was 2007, when Dean and Felix killed 174 people in Mexico and Central America. They were so destructive that both of their names were retired.

It's too early to predict whether or how strongly the U.S. mainland could be affected because of shifting winds and weakening from interference as Maria passes over the string of islands, forecasters said.

But, "overall, it's going to be a very strong storm, we think, going through Saturday and Sunday," Sidney said.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló warned that Maria could bring more rain, wind and water than Irma, which killed three people there.

"Seek refuge with a family member, friend or move to a state shelter, because rescuers will not go out and risk their lives once winds reach 50 miles per hour," Rosselló said Monday.

On Tuesday, Rosselló said 500 shelters would be opened for people who can't stay with relatives or friends when the storm hits.

Authorities have also said they would shut down the airport in San Juan at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

In Condado, just east of historic old San Juan, Sonia Yanguas, 76, was appealing to the Almighty for help.

"We're praying to God that it will weaken out at sea," said Yanguas, who lives in a ninth-floor apartment by the sea. "I've already made the essential purchases, especially water. I have my equipment, I have a radio and batteries, all the things that are so important to making sure you don't end up without a way to communicate."

But she's not sticking around for Maria. She's heading inland to the city of Miramar.

"I'm going to prepare my apartment right now, and then I'm going to a hotel," Yanguas said. "I’m going with my two sons and four grandchildren."

Jay Campbell, who lives in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said residents were also getting ready for Maria — pointing out that "150 mph winds are nothing to sneeze at."

Campbell said he had stocked a supply of drinking water, food, gasoline, batteries and wet wipes, in case there is no running water after the storm passes.

Irma killed four people and left "apocalyptic" damage in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Will Tuttle, who flew down from Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, to the island of St. John to help his mother rebuild after Irma, said they were boarding everything up again in preparation for Maria.

"We covered the windows with plywood and are now putting up more plywood to reinforce them," Tuttle said. "We'll throw everything from outside into the pool — lawn chairs, chaises. It sinks. It's safe. It doesn't go anywhere."

On St. Thomas, Omari Williams said everybody was heeding the call to get out of their houses.

"People here are trying to get safe," he said. "Officials are encouraging more people to come to public shelters especially if their home is already compromised."
Hurricane Maria makes landfall on Dominica as a category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h). Maria is the second category 5 hurricane to make landfall at that intensity in the 2017 season, making this and 2007 the only seasons on record to feature this occurrence.