Hurricane Maria damage update: Aerial footage captures horrific destruction – Is US next?

hit Dominica on Monday which bombarded the island with fierce 160mph winds. 

Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said he was left at the “complete mercy of the hurricane” after Maria ripped the roof off his home. 

Aerial footage has shown the complete devastation of the island with homes being smashed by the intense weather conditions. 

The Dominica Prime Minister said that the island had “lost all what money can buy and replace” after it was bombarded by Maria. 

Later in the footage a bridge appears to have collapsed and streets are lined with debris. 

Hurricane Maria was downgraded to a Category two hurricane after it

The island was forecast up to 25 inches of rain and catastrophic flash flooding has been reported on the US territory.  

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”.

Over three million people on Puerto Rico are without power as Hurricane Maria moves away from the island, still packing 110mph winds. 

CBS Boston’s chief meteorologist Eric Fisher warned that Hurricane Maria could now head to the US east coast and it could be a “close call” for those in the New England region, which includes the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

He said: “After that it heads out towards the East Coast and Bermuda – where does it go from there? Well, it could be a close call for New England toward the middle of next week.

“We’re watching a be trough that’s going to be charging in from the west and it will be a bit of a race between the storm drying close [on] Wednesday and the Thursday and that trough blowing it out to sea.

“Right now, a little to early to tell for sure, it is going to keep the surf up for sure, so wave action will stay very busy next week.”

Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean also warned that the east coast of the United States must “watch” Hurricane Maria.

“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,” Dean said.

The latest National Hurricane Centre update, read: “At 11pm EDT/AST (3am UTC), the large eye of Hurricane Maria was located near latitude 19.2 North, longitude 67.9 West.  Maria is moving toward the northwest near 9mph (15 kmph), and this general motion with a decrease in forward speed is expected through Thursday night.  

“A turn toward the north-northwest is forecast on Friday. On the forecast track, the core of Hurricane Maria will continue to move away from Puerto Rico during the next several hours, and then pass offshore of the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic early Thursday.  

“Maria should then move near the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas Thursday night and Friday.”