Hurricane Maria: Storm batters Dominica causing ‘severe damage’ as nation’s PM rescued

Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit had to be rescued from his roofless home.

He tweeted on social media: “My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding.”

The Prime Minister warned residents to be extra cautious, he told a news conference: “Let us take it seriously and use the time that we have to prepare ourselves adequately.”

Dominica’s population is around 70,000 people and it is the first island to be struck by Hurricane Irma.

According to Agence France-Presse, islanders have been boarding up their properties and people have gone to the supermarket to stock up on essentials.

Dominica was hit by Hurricane David in 1979, another category five storm.

Hurricane David made landfall in Dominica, killing 37 people and leaving 60,000 homeless, nearly 75 per cent of the entire population.

The next day it hit Santo Domingo and the Dominican Republic where it is believed to have killed at least 1,500 people after causing landslides.

Officials have advised residents in low-lying areas or along rivers to move to high ground.

Hurricane David had wind speeds of 150 mph and Hurricane Maria is currently at 160mph.

Hurricane Maria was upgraded to a category 5 hurricane just hours from striking Dominica at 8pm EDT.

The NOAA National Hurricane Center (NHC) said its hurricane hunter aircraft had found Maria’s winds had reached category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

It comes just hours after the NHC had upgraded Maria to an “extremely dangerous” category 4 hurricane at 5pm EDT.