"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." 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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.