Dominica Appeals for Help after Category Five Maria Hits

Hurricane Maria, a category five storm, made landfall on the island of Dominica on Monday night. Not much is known as yet about the extent of the damage, as initial assessments and search and rescue are believed to have just started later today. During the passage of the hurricane, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit updated his Facebook, blogging about what was happening – the roof of his residence torn off, along with hundreds of others. The PM had to be rescued by police officers. In another facebook post last night, PM Skerrit announced that there was “widespread devastation”. He says quote, “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. 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.”  Hurricane Maria has also impacted the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique and several others remain in its path. It is expected that the storm, which dropped to a category four after making landfall and later increased to category five today, will hit Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, among others. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have been told to “evacuate or die” as Hurricane Maria bears down on the island. Here’s the latest on the path of the storm.

[CNN Update on Hurricane Maria…]

We’ll have more on the devastation coming up in Caribbean News Line.