Puerto Rico loses electricity after Hurricane Maria flash flooding – as it happened

The US National Hurricane Center has downgraded Maria to a category 2 storm after it devastated Puerto Rico. The weather service cautioned that the hurricane could strengthen and again become a major hurricane by Thursday.

The top sustained winds of the storm were placed at near 110 mph (175 kph) with higher gusts about 5 pm Wednesday.

The storm system is expected to continue moving away from Puerto Rico in coming hours before passing offshore the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic tonight and early Thursday.

Puerto Rico is experiencing serious issues with electricity and cell phone connectivity, but some images of the scenes there are emerging on social media.

The White House just released a statement on its response to the hurricanes.

The President continues to direct all necessary Federal resources to protect the people of the United States territories affected by Hurricane Maria and to support response and recovery efforts with respect to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. He and the First Lady send their thoughts and prayers to all those in harm’s way.

Earlier today, Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, asked Trump to declare the region a disaster zone. The White House gave the country an emergency declaration, which is a designation below “disaster”.

Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, has ordered a curfew in the territory from 6pm until 6am local time, saying it is essential to maintain order. The curfew is in place until 6am on Saturday.

People exempt from the curfew are: state and federal government officials, state and federal security agency personnel, health workers, reporters and people that may be in an emergency situation.

The second-largest radio telescope in the world is based in Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, which shut down temporarily because of the storm.

A spokesperson for the National Science Foundation, Aya Collins, told the Washington Post that the observatory had been closed since Monday to give workers time to prepare for the storm. If the conditions are safe, the observatory hopes to re-open on Friday, Collins said.

Arecibo is also where much of the 1997 film Contact was filmed.

Ricardo Rossello, the governor of Puerto Rico, has advised residents to remain in a secure location as conditions are still dangerous.

“Let’s keep calm until weather conditions permit government authorities to take to the streets,” Rossello said. “The danger continues - there is a flood notice for all of Puerto Rico. Remain in safe places”.

NationNews Barbados has published aerial footage of the damage in Dominica, the first island hit by Maria.

At least seven people died there, according to Hartley Henry, a chief aid to the prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit.

And 90% of buildings were damaged on the island, according to the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The storm took out all of the island’s communication systems, triggered landslides and blocked roads, OECS said.

The National Hurricane Center reports that the center of the hurricane was detected “just offshore” the northwest coast of Puerto Rico around 2pm ET. It will move away from the coast this afternoon, according to the NHC.

“The center will then pass offshore of the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic tonight and Thursday and then move near the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas Thursday night and Friday,” the update said.

Maria is expected to remain a “dangerous major hurricane” through Friday.

Reporter Alex Dick-Read writes to the Guardian from Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, where it has been tough to find a cell phone signal. He says the communication is very difficult there and a strict curfew is being enforced.

“Overall it seems we got fairly lucky – nothing near as bad as Irma,” he said, noting that the hurricane passed a bit south of the city.

He said it’s hard to tell how badly the islands have been hit because the damage from Irma is still fresh.

We will have more from Alex later today.

Here’s his dispatch from earlier this week on the recovery efforts in the British Virgin Islands:

The National aeronautics and space administration (Nasa) released video of Maria from above Puerto Rico.

The governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, said he has asked Donald Trump to declare the US territory a disaster zone.

Puerto Rico is part of the US commonwealth, so residents have their own constitution and governor. They are considered US citizens but do not have a vote in Congress or presidential elections – only the primaries.

The territory has $73 billion public debt and is working to restructure part of it, though the government has warned it is running out of money in the face of this and other austerity measures.

The White House on Monday declared an emergency in Puerto Rico, but a disaster declaration would increase the federal assistance programs available to help the region recover.

The Associated Press shared updates from local news in Puerto Rico:

El Nuevo Dia newspaper reported that 80 percent of homes in a small fishing community near San Juan were damaged, and that an emergency medical station in the coastal town of Arecibo lost its roof, while communication was severed with several emergency management posts. A hospital and a police station reported broken windows, and a tree fell on an ambulance.

About 90 percent of customers were without power. Those who sought shelter at a coliseum in San Juan were moved to the building’s second and third floors, radio station WKAQ-AM reported.

Reporters and residents have posted video this morning from Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan, where officials warn there could be 10 to 22 more hours of serious winds.

Mike Brennan, a senior hurricane specialist at the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), said the hurricane hit Puerto Rico just after 6am.

Brennan warned of flash-flooding and punishing rainfall, which meant the storm would remain major and “very dangerous” for the next couple of days. Maximum sustained winds of 140mph were recorded and isolated rainfall of 25 inches and higher was measured in some parts of the island.

“Rainfall is going to continue to be a problem there even after Maria’s center begins to move away,” he said.

“Everybody there should be prepared to stay safe the rest of the day and into tomorrow morning”.

Here is a broadcast from the National Hurricane Center on what to expect from Hurricane Maria.

Hurricane Maria is now approaching the northern coast of Puerto Rico as destructive winds and flooding are continuing, the Associated Press reports.

In its latest update, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says the eye of the Category 4 major hurricane is now located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of San Juan, the capital. Maximum sustained winds are 140 mph (220 kph) and the storm is moving to the northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).

The centre says little change in strength is expected in the coming 48 hours as Maria remains a dangerous major hurricane. Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin in the Dominican Republican this afternoon local time with hurricane conditions starting there later Wednesday night.

Forecasters say the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas will see worsening conditions Thursday morning with the expected arrival of hurricane winds Thursday evening.

The tide will combine with a dangerous storm surge to bring flooding of six to nine feet to normally dry areas along Puerto Rico’s coast, the centre says. It goes on:

The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the north and east of the landfall location, where the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves. Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances. For information specific to your area, please see products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.

A dangerous storm surge accompanied by large and destructive waves will raise water levels by as much as 4 to 6 feet above normal tide levels in the hurricane warning area in the Dominican Republic, and 1 to 3 ft elsewhere along the northern coasts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

A dangerous storm surge accompanied by large and destructive waves will raise water levels by as much as 10 to 15 feet above normal tide levels in the hurricane warning area near and to the north of the center of Maria for both the Southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Click here to read the full forecast.

“We have a big one going right now,” is Donald Trump’s assessment of the latest hurricane to hit US territories, in comments carried by ABC News’s Twitter feed.

He continues:

I’ve never seen winds like this.

And Puerto Rico, you take a look at what’s happening there and it’s just one after another.

But I think we are doing a good job.

Here’s more on the flash flood alert the US National Hurricane Center has issued for Puerto Rico:

Hurricane Maria Tropical Cyclone Update NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL152017 635 AM AST Wed Sep 20 2017

...MARIA MAKES LANDFALL NEAR YABUCOA PUERTO RICO...

Geostationary satellite images and surface observations indicate that the center of Hurricane Maria made landfall near Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, around 615 AM AST.

A sustained wind 60 mph (96 km/h) with a wind gust to 113 mph (182 km/h) was recently reported at Yabucoa Harbor, Puerto Rico.

A National Ocean Service tide gauge at Yabucoa Harbor, Puerto Rico, recently reported a water level of 4.3 ft above Mean Higher High Water (MHHW).

The prime of St Kitts and Nevis, Timothy Harris, has declared a public holiday on Wednesday to allow people to take part in a ‘National Clean Up Day’ as the islands recover from being skirted by both Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

“Citizens are asked to remain in the communities and volunteer in cleaning up environment to assist the country in returning to normalcy,” a statement from the government said.

The only way to currently communicate with Dominica is via ham radio or satellite phone. Seven people are confirmed to have been killed on Dominica and more deaths are feared amid reports of “total destruction”, according to a chief aid to the prime minister.

Hartley Henry, principal advisor to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, provided an update from Barbados after speaking via satellite phone to his boss who is still on the island.

I’ve also just listened to recording of a conversation with a ham radio operator on the island. He said 97% of roofs are damaged including the police station. He said the body of a 58-year-old woman had been recovered from flood water and four others are feared drowned.

In another recording, an operator on the island said all students and staff at Ross University medical school have been accounted for and are in good health.

This has yet to be confirmed by the university, which said that “nearly all” students were accounted for, in its latest update.

Dominica Relief is trying to raise funds for the island.

Hurricane Maria remains a category four storm with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph as it barrels over Puerto Rico, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Centre. It is currently 15 miles south-southeast of the capital San Juan.

The NHC says:

On the forecast track, the eye of Maria will continue to move across Puerto Rico this morning and emerge off the northern coast by this afternoon. The center will then pass just north of the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic tonight and Thursday. Maximum sustained winds are near 150 mph (240 km/h) with higher gusts.

Maria is an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, and it is forecast to retain this intensity while it moves across Puerto Rico. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km) from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 150 miles (240 km).

A sustained wind of 81 mph (130 km/h) with a gust to 109 mph (175 km/h) was recently reported at Yabucoa Harbor, Puerto Rico. A sustained wind of 63 mph (101 km/h) with a gust to 118 mph (190 km/h) was recently reported at Camp Santiago, Puerto Rico. A National Ocean Service tide gauge at Yabucoa Harbor recently reported a water level of 5.3 ft above Mean Higher High Water. The estimated minimum central pressure is 921 mb (27.20 inches).

A Hurricane Warning remains in effect for:

• US Virgin Islands
• British Virgin Islands
• Puerto Rico, Culebra, and Vieques
• Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Puerto Plata
• Turks and Caicos Islands
• The Southeastern Bahamas
  

Journalists on Puerto Rico are hunkering down in hotels.

The storm shutters are down in the Marriott in San Juan, but the doors have had to be strapped up with rope to stop them flying open, according to video David Begnaud, from CBS.

Here’s a piece to camera he recorded earlier:

CNN’s Leyla Santiago has been moved inside to the same hotel after recording this.

Other hotels are faring less well.

It’s that time when TV journalist and meteorologist venture out into the elements during the midst of a wild. That was Irma, this is Maria:

Webcam footage has emerged purportedly showing the scene at Yabucoa where Maria made landfall.

Maria is the first category four storm to hit Puerto Rico for 85 years, according to storm chaser Jeff Piotrowski.

Fellow storm chaser Mike Theiss posts video of what it looks like on the ground in Fajarado, east of the eye the storm.

The wind is already so strong on Puerto Rico that police struggled to close the doors on one of the island’s 500 shelters, according to video from NBC’s Gadi Schwartz.

Others turn to prayer as the hurricane nears.

Ross University school of medicine, on the hurricane hit island of Dominica, says it has accounted for nearly all of its students most of whom are US citizens.

In an update it said: “Once we have confirmed their names and student ID numbers, we will contact each student’s emergency contact using the number recorded at their check-in a few weeks ago. Several dozen people are working through the night to complete this task and calls will be made to emergency contacts as soon as we positively confirm your loved ones status.”

On the current damage it said:

There is extensive damage to Dominica from Hurricane Maria including property, vehicles, trees, power lines, and communication channels. Today we received reports of strong wind gusts despite the passage of the hurricane. We have not received any reports of serious flooding where our campus is located and of common areas where our students and colleagues reside.

An evacuation of the students is being planned for the weekend but is not currently possible because the airport is closed. The update said: “The airports are not available at this time. Therefore, we are working on an alternative plan to evacuate your loved ones. Our target is to begin evacuations this weekend.”

The university building itself is reportedly built to withstand category 5 hurricanes, but most students live off-campus.

Brigadier John Ridge, who is coordinating the UK joint hurricane task force, says the main concern on the British Virgin Island is flooding.

British troops on the islands were clearing gullies and ditches before being forced to hunker down as Maria passed, Ridge told BBC News.

He said:

Our concern for the British Virgin Islands is the fact that it [Maria] is due to bring some very heavy rain. Our concern there is the flooding and the storm surges. All the vegetation was stripped off during Hurricane Irma so we are very concerned about the flooding there.

The effects will definitely have been felt on the British Virgin Islands. We are hoping that the military personel there, hunkered down during the worst of it, will be up and back in communication with us in the next hour or so. The worst in terms of the wind will be certainly have been over the last few hours.

Speaking via video link from Barbados, Ridge added: “We did everything we could until the last moment and then the teams out there hunkered down so that they were ready prepared.

“The moment the hurricane is clear, one of the first things I’ll be asking them to do is to confirm the state of the runway which is on Beef Island, just to the east of Tortola.

“That’s critical because it allows me to continue the inload of aid and other support as required.”

Ridge confirmed that 60 tonnes of UK aid is due to arrive in the Caribbean on HMS Ocean on Friday.

Landfall on Puerto Rico should happen in the next two hours, according to the NHC.

Its latest update says:

On the forecast track the eye of Maria will make landfall in Puerto Rico in a couple of hours, cross Puerto Rico today, and pass just north of the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic tonight and Thursday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 155 mph (250 km/h) with higher gusts. Maria is an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, and it should maintain this intensity until landfall.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 150 miles (240 km). Fajardo recently reported sustained winds of 79 mph (128 km/h) with a gust to 100 mph (161 km/h). The minimum central pressure recently reported by an Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft is 917 mb (27.08 inches).

Washington-based meteorologist, Alex Lamers, has an important clarification about when a hurricane makes landfall. This only applies when the exact centre of a hurricane crosses land, he says, not when the edge of crosses land.

Apologies for earlier reporting that Maria had made landfall over the island of Vieques. This was incorrect. The eyewall was recorded over the island at 4am local time.

Hurricane Maria is expected to make landfall on Puerto Rico any moment.

Hurricane Maria is about to make landfall on Puerto Rico. Radar imagery shows it remorseless barrelling towards the south-east of the island. The capital San Juan on the northern coast is also in its forecast track.

The mountainous and volcanic terrain of Dominica will provide a challenge for the relief effort, according Chris Austin, head of the UK Taskforce on hurricanes Irma and Maria.

The UK is currently trying to get an assessment team on Dominica after initial reports of widespread devastation and some fatalities. He said:

Dominica is a different kind of challenge for us because of its topography. It’s mountainous, that means there’s a risks of landslides, of flash flooding. It is also home to half the active volcanoes in the Caribbean which adds another dimension.”

The governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, has revealed that he and his officials had recently planned for two hurricanes hitting the in the island in quick succession.

Speaking to Time magazine, he said: “Luckily our team pland and assessed for it. We were thinking of really bizzare scenarios occuring and one of them was getting back to back storms in Puerto Rico.”

But he added: “This is very dangerous ... You can replace infrastructure, you can’t replace lives. So let’s focus on the next 72 hours on saving lives. Let’s weather the storm and then let’s start rebuilding.”

If you’ve been affected by the hurricane and would like to share your story, you can contribute using the form here. You can also share pictures and videos by clicking on the blue Contribute button on this article, or via WhatsApp by adding the contact +44(0)7867825056.

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Sustained wind speeds of 110mph are being recorded on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques to the east of the main island.

Meanwhile, storm chasers on Puerto Rico are using increasingly graphic language to describe the worsening conditions.

The foreign office minister, Alan Duncan, has again defended the UK’s response to the hurricane season in the Caribbean and said more help is on the way.

The UK government was widely criticised by officials and former officials on its Caribbean dependencies for the lack preparedness and slow response to Hurricane Irma.

When it was put to him on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the UK should have done more to help when Irma struck, Duncan said: “No, I think this is an utterly unfounded accusation. If you had read the French papers they were criticising the French government for not doing as much as the British. What we actually did was professional and quick.”

“This is unprecedented. No one in living memory has ever known four hurricanes in a row and two of such ferocity over these Caribbean islands. We had a ship in situ two months ahead of all this with all the necessary stores. What that does is to be flexible to go to where the storm hits which is exactly what Mounts Bay did. If you had prepositioned supplies on the places that were hit they might have got completely obliterated too.

“Mounts Bay very quickly got the hospital and the airport going on Anguilla. It went to the British Virgin Islands and it has done a fantastic job. And HMS Ocean is due in the area on Friday with many many more stores, fortunately just about the right time to respond to anything that might now happen.”

Duncan added: “This has been a fortnight of relentless catastrophe but although the fear is that these islands are going to get another hit it looks at the moment that the British Virgin Islands won’t get hit as hard as they did before.

“We had a report at 1am this morning from Montserrat where the storm has passed over. There has been a lot of torrential rain, you’ve got blocked gullies and things like that but the government there are doing an initial assessment and we’ll get a better report at daylight but it is not quite as bad as it was before. But I’m afraid anything on top of what happened before is quite bad enough and just adds to the misery.”

This is Matthew Weaver picking up our live coverage as Hurricane Maria is expected to make landfall in Puerto Rico in the coming hours.

Levi Peter, the attorney general of Dominica, says a “few deaths” have been reported on Dominica since it was directly hit by Maria on Monday night and Tuesday morning, but it is impossible to verify because communications are still down.

Speaking from London in a Sky News studio, Peter said he fears the number of deaths will increase. He said:

“Unfortunately the picture is very uncertain ... I have not been able to make contact with Dominica since about 7am UK time [Tuesday] when I was last in communication with members of the cabinet and the prime minister and other friends. And almost nobody that I’m in contact with here, and in other parts of the world, has had any contact. Just before coming here I had some dribs and drabs from ham [radio] operators indicating that there has been some, a few, deaths so far reported. One suspects the number will increase as time goes by.

“Certainly the damage and destruction is extensive. CDEMA, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, carried out surveillance yesterday by aircraft and there is footage indicating widespread destruction and damage.

“The difficulty for me, and other high commissioners and embassies, is that because the communication is as poor as it is we are having to kind of guess and draw from experience.

“My information is that the CDEMA survey indicates that the airport at Douglas Charles, in the north of the island, the main airport, the runway is useable. But I haven’t been able to confirm that. My understanding is that the other airport, at Canefield, is also useable. If that’s correct, then at least it will be possible for aircraft to get in and assist the recovery and relief effort. I’m hoping that is correct.”

Ricardo Rosselló, the governor of Puerto Rico, says there are currently more than 10,000 people – and nearly 200 pets – in official shelters. It’s approaching 3am on the island, with Maria due to hit around daybreak:

With power and communications down, confirmed reports from Dominica are still not available. Some information has come out of the island via ham (amateur) radio users, but until recovery teams arrive on Wednesday, it is impossible to verify the reports.

The West Indies and Caribbean News says it understands that 90% of buildings on the island have been destroyed.

Here is the WIC News report. Its key points are:

• There are reports that at least six people have been killed.
  
• “90% or more of the island’s buildings have been destroyed.”
• Power lines are down, as are communications between the island and the rest of the world.
• Landslides have blocked roads.
• There are reports of severe flooding.
• The prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, is said to be uncontactable, having had to be rescued from his own damaged home during the storm.

The British Virgin Islands, while not in the direct eye of the storm, nonetheless remain under a hurricane warning, as Maria’s outer bands stretch across the Caribbean.

The islands were wrecked by Hurricane Irma barely two weeks ago, hampering preparations for the latest onslaught, Press Assocation reports:

The UK international development secretary, Priti Patel, has described the situation as an “unprecedented crisis” and stressed the UK government was “working flat out”.

Relief workers were racing to secure debris left strewn across the islands after Irma, as loose items have the potential to make the coming hurricane more hazardous if they are picked up by high winds.

Brigadier John Ridge, second in command of the UK’s joint task force, said officials were “continuing to track Maria” as it rolls through the Caribbean region:

Whilst the winds will be strong, it doesn’t look like the BVI will suffer quite the same level of wind as they did under Irma.

The real concern is the amount of rain and the storm surge. They are predicting between 7ft and 11ft of storm surge, and the problem with the rain is the flooding and run-off associated with that.

The latest update from the US Hurricane Center forecasts the core of Maria to reach Puerto Rico within the next few hours:

On the forecast track, the eye of Maria will cross Puerto Rico today, and pass just north of the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic tonight and Thursday.

Maria remains a category five storm, with current sustained wind speeds of 165mph (270km/h). The NHC warns it is “potentially catastrophic” for Puerto Rico.

Hurricane warnings are in place for:

• US Virgin Islands
• British Virgin Islands
• Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra
  
• Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Puerto Plata

As well as life-threatening storm surges, several tornadoes are possible over Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands today, the NHC says.

Norbert Figueroa is reporting for the Guardian from Puerto Rico, and sends this update at close to 2am local time:

Even when Hurricane Maria is still 95 miles (155km) south-east of the capital, San Juan, the Puerto Rico electric power authority (Prepa) has announced that 184,658 users no longer have power in their residences, 12.9% of users.

This data was shared around 11pm, but by now it should be much higher. Carolina, where I am currently located, just lost power at 1.28 am.

The weather conditions here are still equivalent to those of a weak tropical storm, but it is expected to get much worse during the night and early morning hours – possibly receiving category five hurricane winds around noon.

Prepa had worked hard for the past two weeks to bring down to 4% the number of users without power after Hurricane Irma struck the island, but all the hard labour is being undone by the current storm.

Meanwhile, hospitals and refuges are prepared with generators to take care of their patients and people in need.

“My father had a major surgery last week, and he’s still interned. He’s been moved to a small cubicle on the second floor of the hospital, where there are no windows, to protect him and everyone else from the hurricane. He’s being taken care of,” said Monica Torres, a Puerto Rican living in New York City who travelled to the island to accompany her father during his treatment.

The US National Hurricane Center says a sustained wind of 90mph (144km/h) has been reported in St Croix. Wind gusts there have reached 127mph (204km/h).

Maria is now moving west-north-west, across the western part of St Croix and towards Puerto Rico. It is currently 95 miles (155km) south-east of the capital, San Juan.

Some consolation for the US Virgin Islands as the eye of Hurricane Maria skirts the south-west of St Croix, without making landfall.

Yet the island is still experiencing huge wind gusts and heavy rains from the eyewall, which is still passing over the western part.

Aerial footage from Dominica shows flattened buildings, fallen trees and scattered debris:

Here is the outer eyewall of Hurricane Maria pummelling St Croix (marked in green), the southernmost of the US Virgin Islands:

Even from this distance, Puerto Rico is starting to feel the effects of Hurricane Maria. It is currrently shortly after midnight local time, and the core of the storm is expected to hit the island around daybreak.

But those on Puerto Rico now have begun to report a whipping-up of the weather:

Residents have been urged to seek shelter; it is not possible to leave the island:

The midnight advisory from the NHC notes that sustained winds of 75mph (120km/h), with gusts of up to 114mph (183km/h) have been recorded in the western part of St Croix, the largest and southernmost of the US Virgin Islands.

Maria is currently 20 miles (35km) south-south-west of St Croix.

Next in its sights is Puerto Rico: it is currently 105 miles (170km) south-east of the capital San Juan.

An anemometer on St Croix – reportedly the only one still functioning – is registering ever increasing wind gusts as Hurricane Maria approaches the Virgin Islands:

Timothy Harris, the prime minister of St Kitts and Nevis, has declared Wednesday to be “national clean-up day” after Hurricane Maria passed the islands.

Residents are asked to pitch in from 9am on Wednesday to help clear debris. But the official notice warns:

Please be aware that fallen power lines may be live and extreme caution must be taken. Also be aware that there may be residual effects of the storm.

Although it is the US Virgin Islands – and specifically the southernmost island of St Croix – that will bear the brunt of Maria as it passes, the British Virgin Islands are also under a hurricane warning and can expect heavy rains and strong winds, less than two weeks after a battering from Hurricane Irma.

BVI governor Gus Jaspert told the Press Association that with up to 90% of houses destroyed or damaged by Irma, “shelter is a real issue”:

It is completely unprecedented to have one category five, which has devastated large parts of the BVI, then now to be possibly having another category five bearing down on us.

Hopefully it is tracking a little bit south, but on the current trajectory we are going to have impact in terms of flooding, high wind and possible landslides or storm surges as well.

But, I have got confidence in what we have done.

People here are incredibly resilient, incredibly strong and incredibly hopeful and keep their spirits very high. Now is the moment, though, that people just need to bunker down, get through that, and then have confidence that we will rebuild as quickly as we can.

We are hoping and praying that Maria does not set back that progress too much for us to bounce back again quickly.

Weather stations in St Croix are already falling foul of Hurricane Maria – something we saw in Barbuda, too, as Hurricane Irma approached:

The NHC forecast keeps hurricane warnings in place for the following islands:

• US Virgin Islands
• British Virgin Islands
• Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques
• Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Puerto Plata

It cautions:

Tropical storm and hurricane conditions are occurring over the Virgin Islands and will spread over Puerto Rico overnight.

Hurricane conditions are expected within the hurricane warning area in the Dominican Republic late Wednesday, with tropical storm conditions expected by early Wednesday.

Hurricane and tropical storm conditions are possible on Thursday in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas.

In better news, the US National Hurricane Center has downgraded the former Hurricane Jose to a tropical storm.

But the NHC does warn that Jose could still cause dangerous surf and rip current conditions along the US east coast, Bermuda and the Bahamas for several more days.

A final warning from the US National Hurricane Center to the US Virgin Islands as the eye of Maria is about to strike St Croix:

The US president, Donald Trump, has tweeted support for Puerto Rico – a US territory – which faces a direct hit from Hurricane Maria on Wednesday.

Before then, Maria is due imminently to strike the US Virgin Islands.

Satellite imagery shows the outer eyewall (marked in blue) of Maria has almost reached the US Virgin Island of St Croix, seen here outlined in green:

As the eye of Maria approaches the US Virgin Islands, the effects of its outer rain bands and high winds are already being felt, Agence France-Presse reports:

On St John island, which was also battered by Hurricane Irma two weeks ago, locals reported seeing trees dramatically swaying in swirling winds, with rain pouring “sideways”.

Judi Buckley, former senator for St Croix island, traveled to St John from her South Carolina home to help with the Irma relief effort – only to get caught up in Maria.

“Rain is coming through sideways and the trees are swaying,” she told AFP.

“We have become the Irma relief hub and our brothers and sisters across the pond can’t afford for us to be crippled,” she said, referring to those on St Croix.

A 10pm update from the US National Hurricane Center warns that “sustained hurricane-force winds should start on St Croix soon”.

St Croix is the largest of the US Virgin Islands, home to around 50,000 people.

Maria is currently registering wind speeds of 175mph (280km/h).

Norbert Figueroa is reporting for the Guardian from San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, and sends this update:

The number of displaced people has increased exponentially in the last three hours, going from less than 500 to over 4,400 and counting. Local authorities still urge everyone in danger zones to move to one of the 500 shelters immediately.

Luis Muñoz Marín airport has already reported wind gusts of up to 42mph (68km/h), which speak of the magnitude and strength of Hurricane Maria, considering it is still located about 160 miles (250km) south-east of San Juan.

The power grid is already giving up in certain areas towards the eastern side of the island, and it is expected to keep failing or shut down strategically as the storm progresses.

“The hurricane is still far. We had power; we had everything. It’s barely raining, and we have not felt many gust winds here. Suddenly the power went out, and it hasn’t come back,” said Anna Paez, a resident of San Juan who moved inland to Canovanas to spend the hurricane with her family.

Culebra island is already feeling consistent tropical storm-force winds and steady rain. Fajardo, which is the easternmost point on mainland Puerto Rico, is now beginning to feel the strength of Maria’s outer tropical storm winds.

“The wind is impressive because of how early it is. It is supposed to start at 11pm, but we’ve been feeling these strong gusts since the afternoon,” said Mara Méndez from her residence in Las Gaviotas, Fajardo, a high-altitude neighbourhood located near the coast.

This image from the GOES16 weather satellite shows Maria bearing down on St Croix, in the US Virgin Islands.

The island of Vieques is then next in its path, before the hurricane is forecast to smack into Puerto Rico, seen here in the green outer band to the north-west of the eye.

Ross University school of medicine, which is in Dominica, says it is is still working to account for its students – more than 80% of whom are US citizens, with close to 10% from Canada – after Maria swept the island.

But many relatives and friends outside Dominica say the hotline number provided is unavailable and they have been unable to make contact with the school or students.

The university building itself is reportedly built to withstand category 5 hurricanes, but most students live off-campus.

Maria is intensifying. With wind speeds now up to 175mph (280km/h) and barometric pressure down to 909hPa, it is now one of the most intense hurricanes in Atlantic history:

It is currently almost 9pm in the US Virgin Islands, where Hurricane Maria is expected to hit around midnight.

Reuters reports:

The hurricane was expected to pass near St Croix, the part of the US Virgin Islands that escaped the brunt of Irma. St Croix is home to about 55,000 year-round residents, roughly half of the entire territory’s population.

US Virgin Islands governor Kenneth Mapp warned residents of St Croix that they would feel the brunt of the hurricane’s winds around midnight. St Thomas and St John, to the north of St Croix, were not likely to suffer a direct hit, he said.

Mapp warned that police and military troops would be pulled off the streets well before the storm’s arrival, meaning that rescue would be unavailable to anyone out in the winds. He told residents in an afternoon broadcast:

If you’ve identified a spot, a closet, a corner on the inside of your home and you have some breach in your roof, one of the things you can do is take a mattress or something and have it as a barrier to make sure that you’re safe.”

Many USVI residents fled to shelters around midday on Tuesday. Mapp urged islanders to focus on saving themselves:

You lose your life the moment you start thinking about how to save a few bucks to stop something from crashing or burning or falling apart. The only thing that matters is the safety of your family, and your children, and yourself. The rest of the stuff, forget it.”

US airlines said on Tuesday they would cap one-way fares at $99 to $384 to aid evacuations. Maria was predicted to be the worst storm to hit St Croix since Hugo, a category 4 storm, in 1989.

Ricardo Rosselló, the governor of Puerto Rico, which is expected to be struck by Hurricane Maria within the next 24 hours, says more than 4,000 people – and 100 pets – have already sought refuge in official emergency shelters:

Rogelio Sierra Díaz, Cuba’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, has also offered support for Dominica as the island begins to assess the damage wrought by Maria:

This is Claire Phipps picking up our live coverage as Hurricane Maria continues to barrel its way across the Caribbean.

The latest advisory from the US National Hurricane Center, at 8pm local time, warns that the category 5 hurricane is moving closer to St Croix, the largest of the US Virgin Islands. Maria is currently about 60 miles (100km) south-east of the island, with winds of 175mph (280km/h).

The NHC urges:

Preparations against life-threatening storm surge and rainfall flooding and destructive winds should be rushed to completion.

Journalist Norbert Figueroa, reporting on the ground in San Juan, has an update on the potentially devastating impacts to Puerto Rico’s infrastructure:

Puerto Rico’s struggling and decaying power and telecommunications infrastructures are expected to be some of the most affected by this hurricane. It’s possible all communications and power networks could collapse at some point on Wednesday.

The island has about 1,600 telecommunication towers, but most of them are located inland and at high altitudes in the mountains – where the hurricane eye is expected to have a direct impact. There is concern that most of these towers were built over 20 years ago and were designed to withstand up to 130 mph winds, short of the expected wind speed across the island.

Telecommunication towers erected in the past five years were designed to sustain 165 mph winds, but as of 7pm, Maria had increased its sustained winds to 175 mph, which presents an imminent threat to the entire communications system in the island.

Over 1m residents lost power as Hurricane Irma battered the island earlier this month, even though the hurricane didn’t hit the island directly. As of Monday, 46,401 still had no power and 9,756 had no potable water. Due to the severity and direct impact of Maria, the government is advising locals to prepare for the possibility of being without power for months and without water for several days.

Puerto Rico will need billions in federal aid after Hurricane Maria, according to a report in the Miami Herald.

Existing fiscal challenges combined with the devastation of both Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria means Puerto Rico will be in a very difficult position financially, the paper reports:

The island’s utility provider filed for a form of bankruptcy in July, and two months later Hurricane Irma passed just north of San Juan, knocking out power to nearly 1 million people and causing an estimated $1 billion in damage. With thousands still without power, Hurricane Maria is approaching...

The Puerto Rican government, which sought bankruptcy relief in exchange for supervised fiscal belt-tightening in May, will need federal assistance to recover from Maria and Irma. Repairing and replacing power lines and stations throughout the territory after Maria will likely cost billions, though the island doesn’t have any voting power in Congress.”

Here is recent footage of the San Juan mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz, giving an emotional interview from a shelter:

I’m scared for the people I’m responsible for. And I’m scared that when we come out of here, the devastation and the loss of lives would be great. So I’m just scared for my people.”

She added: “The electrical infrastructure in Puerto Rico was very weakened before Hurricane Irma came. We’re looking at about four months of no electricity.”

Asked about federal support, the mayor said: “At least the communication channel has been opened, and we have felt like at least somebody is listening on the other side of the ocean.”

Hurricane center forecasters have said it “now appears likely” that Maria will still be at category 5 intensity when it moves over the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, according to the AP.

The center of the storm was forecast to move over or near the US Virgin Island of St Croix and Puerto Rico on Tuesday night and Wednesday, leading to “life-threatening” floods.

Maria is expected to produce rain accumulations through Thursday of 10 to 15 inches in the US and British Virgin Islands; 12 to 18 inches in Puerto Rico; 10 to 15 inches in central and southern Leeward Islands; 2 to 4 inches in the Windward Islands and Barbados; and 4 to 8 inches in eastern Dominican Republic.