Hurricane Maria sweeps across Puerto Rico with destructive winds and tremendous rainfall
‘Extremely dangerous’ Hurricane Maria churns toward Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico; Jose to scrape Northeast coast
(about 2 hours later)
(This article, originally published Tuesday, was updated at 11:05 a.m. Wednesday to reflect the latest conditions in Puerto Rico and the National Hurricane Center advisories.)
(This article, originally published at noon Monday, was last updated at 8 a.m. Tuesday with the latest information from the National Hurricane Center advisories.)
Extremely dangerous Hurricane Maria plowed across Puerto Rico Wednesday morning, inflicting a disastrous combination of destructive winds, tremendous rainfall and coastal inundation from surging ocean waters.
The wicked 2017 hurricane season began delivering more punishing blows Tuesday as Hurricane Maria raked across the Caribbean with “potentially catastrophic” winds of 160 mph. To the north, Hurricane Jose churned on a path to brush the Northeast coast with raging surf and potentially damaging gusts.
The storm slammed ashore near Yabucoa, Puerto Rico at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane with 155 mph winds. It is the first Category 4 storm to directly strike the island since 1932.
Maria strengthened to the highest-level Category 5 on Tuesday after making landfall on the island of Dominica. The storm carries the potential to cause widespread destruction along its path from the central Lesser Antilles through Puerto Rico, including some areas battered earlier this month by the huge Hurricane Irma.
“This is going to impact all of Puerto Rico with a force and violence that we haven’t seen for several generations,” Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló told the Associated Press. “We’re going to lose a lot of infrastructure in Puerto Rico. We’re going to have to rebuild.”
“Maria is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous Category 4 or 5 hurricane while it approaches the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico,” the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday.
Eric Blake, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center, tweeted Maria is the third Category 4 to strike the U.S. in the same season, following Harvey and Irma, which is “unprecedented in the modern era“.
Jose is capable of producing coastal flooding and pockets of damaging wind from eastern Long Island to coastal Massachusetts, its effects are most likely to resemble those of a strong nor’easter — rather than a devastating hurricane.
The latest on Maria
This storm has rapidly intensified which is a potentially disastrous scenario for the islands it will sweep across. At 9:35 p.m. Monday, the storm made landfall in Dominica, causing widespread damage as it plowed west-northwest at 9 mph. It was the first Category 5 storm to strike Dominica in recorded history.
At 11 a.m., Maria was positioned 25 miles west of San Juan, which reported sustained winds to 86 mph gusting to 110 mph around 7:30 a.m. before the wind sensor stopped transmitting data. The storm was churning to the northwest at 13 mph and should emerge off the coast of Puerto Rico by midday, but heavy rain and strong winds are likely to continue for many hours thereafter.
The country’s prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, said in a Facebook post that “We have lost all that money can buy.”
Live Look- San Juan,PR! Worst of eyewall now approaching the city. Reports of winds in excess of 118mph reported. Video-David Saliceti pic.twitter.com/dN2a0QbT03 — Tucker Barnes (@TuckerFox5) September 20, 2017
“My focus now is in rescuing the trapped and securing medical assistance for the injured. We will need help, my friend, we will need help of all kinds,” he added.
Live Look- San Juan,PR! Worst of eyewall now approaching the city. Reports of winds in excess of 118mph reported. Video-David Saliceti pic.twitter.com/dN2a0QbT03
The hurricane center said fluctuations in intensity are possible as the storm makes its way to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico Tuesday night into Wednesday. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 125 miles.
— Tucker Barnes (@TuckerFox5) September 20, 2017
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the storm was positioned 170 miles southeast of St. Croix moving to the west-northwest at 9 mph.
While winds continued to howl, inland rain was emerging as the most severe hazard as Wednesday morning wore on. Rivers on the island were rapidly rising, some reaching record levels in a matter of hours.
On Monday, the storm cut across not only Dominica but also Martinique, French Guadeloupe and St. Lucia, where hurricane warnings were in effect. It was also passing close to and affecting St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat, under hurricane warnings, but perhaps positioned far enough north of the storm to miss its brunt.
The river gauges across Puerto Rico are all going straight up toward record flooding with a lot of rain yet to come. #Maria pic.twitter.com/4viPohPJBJ — Eric Fisher (@ericfisher) September 20, 2017
The worst part of the storm was likely to pass a good deal south of beleaguered Barbuda and Antigua, reeling from Hurricane Irma, but they could still get brushed by some strong wind gusts and heavy showers.
The river gauges across Puerto Rico are all going straight up toward record flooding with a lot of rain yet to come. #Maria pic.twitter.com/4viPohPJBJ
On Tuesday, Maria is predicted to mostly pass through a patch of the Caribbean free of islands before potentially closing in on St. Croix, now under a hurricane warning, late in the day or at night. This island was one of the few Virgin Islands that was spared Irma’s wrath, but may well get hammered by Maria.
— Eric Fisher (@ericfisher) September 20, 2017
The other U.S. Virgin Islands as well as the British Virgin Islands will also need to carefully monitor and prepare for Maria. While they may remain north of its most severe effects, they could easily face hurricane conditions
At 11 a.m., 11 of 27 river gauges on Puerto Rico were reporting “major flooding”.
By Wednesday, the storm is likely to pass very close to or directly affect Puerto Rico from southeast to northwest. A hurricane has not made landfall in Puerto Rico since Georges in 1998.
The National Weather Service in San Juan reported incredible rainfall rates up to 5 to 7 inches per hour.
Only four recorded Category 4 or stronger hurricanes have made landfall on Puerto Rico. #Maria is threatening to be the fifth. #MariaPR pic.twitter.com/hrXkB1s2g1 — Michael Lowry (@MichaelRLowry) September 18, 2017
El río d nuestro barrio Borinquén d Guayama parece un animal Posted by Cruz Rodriguez Keila on Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Only four recorded Category 4 or stronger hurricanes have made landfall on Puerto Rico. #Maria is threatening to be the fifth. #MariaPR pic.twitter.com/hrXkB1s2g1
El río d nuestro barrio Borinquén d Guayama parece un animal
— Michael Lowry (@MichaelRLowry) September 18, 2017
Posted by Cruz Rodriguez Keila on Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Just one Category 5 hurricane has hit Puerto Rico in recorded history; Maria could become the second if it maintains its strength. The last Category 4 storm to strike the island occurred in 1932.
Estimated rainfall totals in eastern Puerto Rico reached over 20 inches in many areas. A citizen weather observer in Trujillo Alto, just south of San Juan, reported 15.43 inches in the 24 hours ending at 7:40 a.m.
The islands directly affected by the storm’s core face the likelihood of destructive winds of 120 to 160 mph and 12 to 18 inches of rain (with isolated totals of 20-25 inches, especially in high terrain), which will cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
As the storm made landfall early Wednesday morning along the southeast coast of Puerto Rico, a National Ocean Service tide gauge at Yabucoa Harbor, Puerto Rico, reported a rise in water 5.3 feet above the normal high tide.
A devastating storm surge of at least 6 to 9 feet above normally dry ground is likely to target coastlines positioned just north-northeast of the storm center — which could include the south shores of St. Croix and southeast Puerto Rico.
Wind reports became scarce by 8 a.m. as wind sensors and/or their transmission signals failed, but numerous locations clocked gusts over 110 mph.
On Friday, the hurricane may come close to the Turks and Caicos and southeast Bahamas, which were ravaged by Irma. Beyond that point, Maria’s path becomes more uncertain. Some models suggest it could find an escape route out to sea, remaining offshore from the East Coast, but it is way too early to sound the all-clear.
Updated #Maria wind gusts. @NBC6 #NBC6 pic.twitter.com/O5kpHz9uYo — Adam Berg (@AdamBergNBC6) September 20, 2017
With Maria, the 2017 hurricane season has already featured four Category 4 or stronger storms; this has only happened four previous times by Sept. 18.
“2017 joins 1932, 1933, 1961, 2005, and 2007 as only years with multiple Cat 5s; likely to join 2007 as the only with multiple Cat 5 landfalls,” tweeted MDA Federal, a meteorological consulting firm.
— Adam Berg (@AdamBergNBC6) September 20, 2017
2017 is the first hurricane season with two Category 5 storms since 2007.
In the hours leading up to and following landfall, the storm’s peak winds estimated by the National Hurricane Center had decreased some, from 175 to 140 mph, but it remained a powerful Category 4.
Jose, which is losing some of its tropical characteristics, is expected to behave like a strong nor’easter along the coast of the Northeast, from near Long Island to eastern Massachusetts.
Effects in St. Croix
The tropical storm warning is in effect for coastal Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts, the areas most likely to be substantially impacted by Jose. A tropical storm watch continues for areas to the south down to eastern Long Island. Farther south, along the New Jersey and Delaware coastline, the tropical storm watch was dropped Monday night.
Early Wednesday morning, sustained winds reached 106 mph and gusts were reported up to 137 mph in St. Croix. Between 10 and 11 p.m. Tuesday, St. Croix’s airport on the southwest part of the island reported gusts up to 92 mph before the wind sensor stopped reporting.
The storm, positioned 240 miles east-northeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., was headed north at 9 mph at 5 a.m. Tuesday. It is expected to turn northeast tonight. The storm’s peak winds were around 75 mph and expected to remain at that intensity before gradually weakening on Wednesday.
While St. Croix was hard hit, the storm’s inner eyewall containing its most violent winds just missed to the south – sparing the island the worst of its fury.
The Hurricane Center said tropical storm-force winds could begin in coastal sections of the Northeast as soon as Tuesday and Tuesday night. Moderate coastal flooding is expected with water rising up to one to three feet above normally dry land at high tide. Because the storm is a slow-mover, beaches will be assaulted for an extended duration, leading to the prospect of severe erosion.
Good to see #StCroix not destroyed, just damaged. Inner eye wall missed Island by just 10 miles to the Southeast https://t.co/720KQpS6v8 — Bill Karins (@BillKarins) September 20, 2017
The center of the storm is forecast to pass well offshore of the Delmarva Peninsula later today, pass, well to the east of the New Jersey coast on Wednesday, and pass offshore of southeastern Massachusetts by Thursday.
Good to see #StCroix not destroyed, just damaged. Inner eye wall missed Island by just 10 miles to the Southeast https://t.co/720KQpS6v8
The worst conditions are likely from eastern Long Island to eastern Massachusetts on Wednesday when these areas may get battered by the combination of heavy rain, damaging wind gusts to hurricane-force, and coastal flooding.
— Bill Karins (@BillKarins) September 20, 2017
“Total [rain] accumulations of 3 to 5 inches are expected over eastern Long Island, southeast Connecticut, southern Rhode Island, and southeast Massachusetts, including Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket,” the hurricane center said.
The forecast
Links: Local hurricane statements for Delmarva/New Jersey shore | New York/Long Island coastal areas | eastern New England
While the core of Maria will progress offshore by Wednesday afternoon, Puerto Rico can expect extreme torrential rain and strong winds well into the day Wednesday, perhaps into the evening.
It’s important to note that small changes in Jose’s track could increase or decrease the intensity of effects and how far they expand inland.
The effects forecast by the National Weather Service over Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are dire, and its warning statement carries an apocalyptic tone.
“Any deviation to the left of the Hurricane Center forecast track would increase the likelihood and magnitude of impacts elsewhere along the U.S. east coast from Delaware to southern New England,” the Hurricane Center said.
It says to expect “catastrophic damage” from winds, including “structural damage to sturdy buildings, some with complete roof and wall failures.” It warns that “severe injury is possible in less than a strong structure” and that “locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months”
Irrespective of its track, dangerous surf and rip currents are expected along the East Coast through much of the week.
Anything close to this National Weather Service forecast for maximum winds gusts would be a complete disaster for Puerto Rico. #Maria pic.twitter.com/2WMdPBxhzp — Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) September 20, 2017
Brian Murphy and Colis Ferguson contributed to this report.
Anything close to this National Weather Service forecast for maximum winds gusts would be a complete disaster for Puerto Rico. #Maria pic.twitter.com/2WMdPBxhzp
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) September 20, 2017
It also predicts rainfall amounts of 12 to 18 inches, with isolated totals exceeding 25 inches. The Hurricane Center had warned that the rain may “prompt numerous evacuations and rescues” and “enter numerous structures within multiple communities,” adding that streets and parking lots may “become rivers of raging water” and warns some structures will become “uninhabitable or washed away.”
Along the coast, the Weather Service describes”extensive impacts” from a “life-threatening” storm surge at the coast, reaching 6 to 9 feet above normally dry land. The highest storm surge is likely to occur just north and northeast of where the center makes landfall, which could target southeast Puerto Rico.
In the areas hit hardest by storm surge, the Weather Service describes these effects: “Large areas of deep inundation with storm surge flooding accentuated by battering waves. Structural damage to buildings, with several washing away. Damage compounded by floating debris. Locations may be uninhabitable for an extended period.”
Link: National Weather Service Local Hurricane Statement for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
The projected storm track is such that the most severe conditions may target St. Croix and southeast Puerto Rico. But the storm is expansive enough that small wobbles could bring devastating effects farther to the north and west, including over the same areas hardest hit by Hurricane Irma, such as St. Thomas and St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the entirety of the British Virgin Islands. And even if these islands remain north of the storm’s core, a dangerous storm surge of up to 7 to 11 feet above normally dry land is possible.
Puerto Rico is very vulnerable to hurricanes, but one has not made landfall there since Georges in 1998. It just missed the worst of Irma, which scraped along its north shore, but an estimated 1 million people lost electricity because of its fragile power infrastructure. Before Irma struck, officials warned some areas could be without power for months.
Just one Category 5 hurricane has hit Puerto Rico in recorded history, back in 1928. The last time a Category 4 storm struck the island was in 1932.
[Puerto Rico has a long history with tropical storms. None of them were like Hurricane Maria.]
Effects on the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos and Southeast Bahamas
By Wednesday night and through Thursday, the storm should be exiting Puerto Rico and is forecast to parallel the north shore of the Dominican Republic — also hard hit by Irma. It has been placed under a hurricane warning.
Early on Friday, the hurricane is expected to come close to the Turks and Caicos and southeast Bahamas, which were also ravaged by Irma. They are also under a hurricane warning.
U.S. effects
After the storm passes the Southeast Bahamas, some models suggest it could find an escape route out to sea, remaining offshore from the East Coast, but it is way too early to sound the all-clear.
Hurricane Jose may help in keeping Maria away from the U.S. mainland by drawing it to the northeast. However, if Jose weakens too quickly, Maria could drift closer to the U.S. coast by the middle of next week.
Even if Maria remains just offshore along the East Coast, dangerous surf and rip currents are likely.
Maria’s place in history and this hurricane season in perspective
Maria’s landfall pressure of 914 millibars in Puerto Rico Wednesday morning was the third lowest on a record a hurricane striking the U.S.. The lower the pressure the stronger the storm.
On Tuesday evening, Maria’s pressure dropped to 909 millibars, ranking among the 10 lowest in recorded history in the Atlantic.
Here's a list of lowest Atlantic pressure on record. #Maria at 909mb is lowest since Dean in 2007. All devastating storms on this list. pic.twitter.com/lhQAsdeukL — Eric Fisher (@ericfisher) September 19, 2017
Here's a list of lowest Atlantic pressure on record. #Maria at 909mb is lowest since Dean in 2007. All devastating storms on this list. pic.twitter.com/lhQAsdeukL
— Eric Fisher (@ericfisher) September 19, 2017
Its maximum sustained winds, which reached 175 mph, also ranked among the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.
As the storm neared peak intensity Tuesday evening, Michael Brennan, a Hurricane Center forecaster tweeted: “Starting to run out of adjectives for #Maria. Horrifying.”
At 9:35 p.m. Monday, Maria became the the first Category 5 storm to strike Dominica in recorded history, leaving behind widespread destruction.
[‘We have lost all what money can buy’: Hurricane Maria devastates Dominica]
In just 18 hours Monday, the storm strengthened from a minimal Category 1 storm to a Category 5 monster. Its pressure dropped 52 millibars in 18 hours, “one of the fastest deepening rates on record behind Ike, Rita, Gilbert, & Wilma,” tweeted Tomer Burg, at atmospheric science graduate student at SUNY-Albany.
Maria is the latest powerhouse storm in what has become a hyperactive hurricane season.
“2017 joins 1932, 1933, 1961, 2005, and 2007 as only years with multiple Cat 5s,” tweeted MDA Federal, a meteorological consulting firm.
With Maria, the 2017 hurricane season has already featured four Category 4 or stronger storms; this has only happened four previous times by Sept. 18.
Hurricane Jose
While Maria is the far more dangerous storm, Jose is a strong tropical storm with 70 mph winds. Positioned 150 miles south of Nantucket, Mass. at 5 a.m., it’s drifting northeast at 8 mph.
Tropical storm warnings cover the coast eastern Massachusetts, where peak wind gusts could reach 65 mph on Wednesday along with 1 to 4 inches of rain. These winds could cause scattered power outages.
Along much of the Northeast coast, minor to moderate coastal flooding is possible as the storm pushes ocean water ashore — up to 1 to 2 feet above normally dry land at high tide. All along these shores, dangerous surf and rip currents are expected.
The National Weather Service says that in coastal eastern Massachusetts, 15 to 20-foot waves could pound exposed beaches, causing severe erosion.
Link: Tropical storm impact statement from National Weather Service for eastern New England
