About 100 flights were canceled and the government suspended school and sent workers home. A hospital and a police station reported broken windows, and a tree fell on an ambulance.Īs the storm closed in on the Dominican Republic, about 4,000 tourists in the Bavara-Punta Cana area on the eastern tip of the island were moved to hotels in Santo Domingo, the capital. More than 11,000 people - and more than 580 pets - were in shelters, authorities said.Īlong the island’s northern coast, an emergency medical station in the town of Arecibo lost its roof, while communication was severed with several emergency management posts.
“This is going to be a disaster,” said Jean Robert Auguste, who owns two French restaurants and sought shelter at a San Juan hotel. Many people feared extended power outages would further sink businesses struggling amid a recession that has lasted more than a decade.
He asked President Donald Trump to declare the island a disaster zone, a step that would open the way to federal aid. Rossello urged people to have faith: “We are stronger than any hurricane. Puerto Rico is struggling to restructure a portion of its $73 billion debt, and the government has warned it is running out of money as it fights against furloughs and other austerity measures imposed by a federal board overseeing the island’s finances. It was expected to pass off the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic late Wednesday and Thursday.Įven before the storm, Puerto Rico’s electrical grid was crumbling and the island was in dire condition financially. It was centered just off the northwestern corner of Puerto Rico, moving at 12 mph. EDT, Maria had weakened into a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph.
“Maintaining public order will be essential.”Īs of 5 p.m. “We are at a critical moment in the effort to help thousands of Puerto Ricans that urgently need aid and to assess the great damage caused by Hurricane Maria,” he said. daily until Saturday to allow rescue crews and officials to respond to the hurricane’s aftermath. Ricardo Rossello imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. “Months and months and months and months are going to pass before we can recover from this,” he said. The fishing community near San Juan Bay was hit with a storm surge of more than 4 feet, he said. People calling local radio stations reported that doors were being torn off their hinges and a water tank flew away.įelix Delgado, mayor of the northern coastal city of Catano, told The Associated Press that 80 percent of the 454 homes in a neighborhood known as Juana Matos were destroyed. Widespread flooding was reported, with dozens of cars half-submerged in some neighborhoods and many streets turned into rivers. There were no immediate reports of any deaths or serious injuries on the island.Īs people waited in shelters or took cover inside stairwells, bathrooms and closets, Maria brought down cell towers and power lines, snapped trees, tore off roofs and unloaded at least 20 inches of rain.
It’s a system that has destroyed everything in its path.” “The information we have received is not encouraging. “Once we’re able to go outside, we’re going to find our island destroyed,” warned Abner Gomez, Puerto Rico’s emergency management director.