Hurricane Maria made landfall near Puerto Rico at around 6.15am EDT, according to the NOAA National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Puerto Rico’s governor has called the storm “the biggest and potentially most catastrophic hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in a century”.
Maria is bringing life-threatening flooding and mudslides, as well as a six to nine-foot storm surge to Puerto Rico.
The NHC’s 9am EDT update said the hurricane was last located just 15 miles from San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital and biggest city. Maria was 30 miles from Arecibo.
CNN reporter Leyla Santiago was reporting from San Juan, Puerto Rico when she was blown away by 155 mph winds as the weather lashed the Caribbean island.
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Dramatically, an assistant from behind the camera made a dive for Santiago as she is dragged away from the camera by the vicious winds.
Hosts in the CNN studio reveal Santiago is safe after having to move to safety because of the huge gusts of winds battering Puerto Rico.
A weather station near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, has been hit with up to 71 mph (114 km/h) winds and gusts of 91 mph (146 km/h).
The eyewall of Hurricane Maria has moved over Vieques, one of the smaller islands of Puerto Rico, according to the 4am EDT update from the NHC.
At the time of landfall, Tom Terry, chief meteorologist at WFTV/WRDQ, tweeted: “May have lost communication with radar as Maria makes landfall. Incredible storm”.
However, after Hurricane Irma reached landfall in Miami, Florida, US Forecasters are scrambling to predict whether Hurricane Maria will also smash into the US East Coast.
Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean warned Hurricane Maria must be “watched”, as she displayed separate models showing interaction with the US mainland.
Dean said: “The images coming out of San Juan, Puerto Rico are so destructive, and, of course, we saw landfall across the US Virgin Islands as a Category 5.
“To see a Category 4 make landfall across the US three times in one season is unprecedented – we are on track for a historic season.”
The Fox meteorologist added: “The East Coast is also going to have to monitor this as the computer models are spread out, especially as we go further out to next week.
“That’s a little too close for comfort.”