The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico were facing the wrath of Hurricane Maria after the powerful Category 5 storm wrecked the Caribbean island of Dominica on Tuesday and lashed the island of Guadaloupe with 160 mph winds.
Maria was about 80 miles southeast of St. Croix as of 5 p.m. ET and expected “to pass near the U.S. Virgin Islands” later tonight “and over Puerto Rico on Wednesday,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned.
Even more ominous, the maximum wind speed of the “potentially catastrophic” storm had ticked up to 165 mph.
President Donald Trump has already declared states of emergency in both of the U.S. territories, and the Coast Guard has moved all its ships, aircraft and personnel out of harm’s way so they can quickly launch rescue missions once the storm passes, officials said.
Related: Hurricane Maria Devastates Dominica on Path to Puerto Rico
Hurricane warnings also went up in the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Puerto Plata, according to the NHC.
The last time the region was threatened by a storm this powerful was in 1928, when the Okeechobee Hurricane roared through the Virgin Islands and slammed Puerto Rico. It killed over 300 people there and left a trail of destruction from one end of the island to the other before heading on to Florida.
In the end, it wound up being one of the deadliest hurricanes on record to hit North America, killing more than 4,000 people — mostly poor black residents who lived near Lake Okeechobee in South Florida and whose bodies were buried in mass graves.
But back then, Puerto Rico had a population of less than 1.5 million and was largely rural. Today, the population is nearly 3.5 million. And it’s still feeling the effects of Hurricane Irma, which at its worst point cut off power to more than 1 million people.
“I am personally without electricity since last night,” said San Juan resident Monica Morales. “Some people had their power out since before passed and they still haven’t had it restored.”
With several days to prepare, many Puerto Ricans stocked up on supplies, boarded up their homes, and headed once again for shelters and higher ground.
Morales, a 48-year-old mother of two, said she will be riding out the storm with her parents and brother at a home in Rio Piedras.
“Everybody’s tense, the streets are a little crazy now,” she said. “The streetlights aren’t working, gas stations — the ones that do have gas, the lines — are incredible. People are like a little bit crazy, panicked.”
On Guadeloupe, one person was killed by a falling tree and two people were still missing after a boat disappeared off the coast while Marie was roaring through Monday night, authorities said.
In Dominica, the 72,000 or so residents were digging out after the storm.
“Initial reports are of widespread devastation,” Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit reported on his Facebook page. “So far we have lost all what money can buy and replace.”
Maria was one of the fastest growing hurricanes ever recorded, NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins reported.
“Dominica had very little time to prepare for this monster,” Karins said. “I fear what we will see during the daylight hours from Dominica and Guadeloupe. They had little time to prepare for the strongest storm of their lifetimes.”
The French island of Martinique, which at one point appeared to be poised to take a direct hit from Maria, also sustained heavy damage, authorities said.
It’s only the second time in recorded history that two Category 5 hurricanes have made landfall in a hurricane season, Karins said. The last time that happened in the Atlantic basin was 2007, when Dean and Felix killed 174 people in Mexico and Central America. They were so destructive that both of their names were retired.
