Hurricane Maria Pounds Puerto Rico

Hurricane Maria, the devastating storm pushing north-west through the Caribbean, is battering Puerto Rico.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it made landfall in Yabucoa in the east of the US territory, and now has strong winds of 140 mph (225 km/h).

The US territory's governor said damage was inevitable as driving rain and winds hit the Puerto Rican capital.

On the island of Dominica, which was badly affected on Monday, seven people are reported to have been killed.

Aerial footage over the island shows flattened houses and the death toll on Dominica is likely to rise, with details remaining scant as communication links are down.

On Tuesday, Maria ploughed through St Croix in the US Virgin Islands, home to around 55,000 people.

Shortly before making landfall in Puerto Rico, the storm was downgraded from category five to category four by the NHC.

Footage posted on social media showed a torrent of water pouring through the streets of Guayama on the island's south coast.

In San Juan, palm trees were bent double and electricity cables were blown loose as debris was thrown through the air.

As of 11:00 local time (1500 GMT) on Wednesday, the eye of the storm was around 20 miles (32km) west of San Juan.

Up to 90% of island residents were without electricity, El Nuevo Dia newspaper quoted Governor Ricardo Rossello as saying. Mr Rossello earlier told the island's 3.5 million people to seek shelter.

He warned residents to prepare for "the worst storm of the last century" as about 500 shelters were made available to accommodate tens of thousands of people.

"God is with us; we are stronger than any hurricane," Mr Rossello said. "Together we will rise again."

Puerto Rico has experienced just one category five storm since 1851 - the Okeechobee Hurricane in 1928.

Maria is the second storm of this strength to hit the Caribbean this hurricane season - the first being category five Irma earlier in September. Maria began moving roughly along the same track as Irma.

Officials in Puerto Rico feared the debris left by Irma could prove extremely dangerous in the high winds.

There were also concerns that heavy rain could cause landslides in some places, and that a predicted storm surge of up to 9ft (2.7m) could swamp low-lying areas, with "destructive waves" expected to pummel the coast.

The NHC also warned that Maria could deliver several tornadoes over Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

Source: BBC News