Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico as Category 4 Storm

[Mystic Wanderer]

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.
While the storm's maximum sustained winds had dropped to 145 mph by 9 a.m. ET, it still threatened to do severe damage to the U.S. territory. A Category 4 storm has not hit the island since 1932.

Maria was moving at 13 mph and the storm's eye was located about 15 miles away from Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan, as of 9 a.m.
A weather station near Arecibo, some 43 miles from San Juan, recently reported a sustained wind of 71 mph and a wind gust of 91 mph.
"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation," the National Hurricane Center warned.

Storm surge was predicted to be 6 to 9 feet in coastal Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Rainfall totals for Puerto Rico were projected at 12 to 18 inches, with as much as 25 inches in isolated areas.

Maria is also forecast to approach the Dominican Republic, where conditions will deteriorate Wednesday evening as Maria passes just north of Punta Cana around midnight.

Forecast models currently show the storm traveling east of Florida and the Carolinas.

The storm did severe damage to multiple Caribbean islands over the past 36 hours, including Dominica, Guadeloupe and the Virgin Islands.
Guadeloupe confirmed two people were killed and two others were missing due to the storm.

There was widespread damage across Dominica, as seen in the first aerial video from the tiny island taken Tuesday.

(Click on the bottom picture to see the video)

Source

All this crazy weather and the earthquakes have me a bit on edge. Utah has had a lot of swarms lately too.
Does anyone else feel more anxiety lately? 
Could it be those super cosmic energy waves hitting us that are affecting the weather and peoples' anxiety levels, the ones that some of the whistle-blowers have talked about? 
I remember also something about the weather was predicted to go crazy after a solar eclipse.  Is that it?  

Just a reminder, September 23rd is this coming Saturday. I don't think it will be the end of the world, but I am curious to see if anything happens.

[DuckforcoveR]

I think it's global warming (the hurricanes) and global cooling (earthquakes) at the same time. All caused by us.    

There's actually precedent: put hot and cold stuff together and it can shatter (hot coffee pot into cold water). 

 

[Mystic Wanderer]

Update:

Hurricane Maria restrengthened to a major hurricane early Thursday after laying waste to Puerto Rico and leaving the island totally in the dark.

The latest update from the National Hurricane Center at 5 a.m. shows maximum sustained winds for Maria are now 115 mph. The storm returned to major hurricane status after moving back over open water before it is expected to affect Turks and Caicos Thursday night.

At least 10 people have died in the storm, including seven in Dominica, two in Guadeloupe and one in Puerto Rico.

The storm is expected to strengthen over the next day or two as it moves north, the National Weather Service said. The storm could be a high-end Category 3 or low-end Category 4 storm while it passes Turks and Caicos. Beyond Turks and Caicos the hurricane is likely to weaken as it moves between Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast.

Maria is not expected to threaten the United States mainland.

Maria was lashing the eastern end of the Dominican Republic with strong winds and heavy rain overnight. The eye was about 70 miles north of the resort town of Punta Cana at 5 a.m. and moving northwest at about 9 mph.

Even as the storm moved away from Puerto Rico, the island was still being hit with heavy rain bands Thursday. Storm surge was receding from Puerto Rico Thursday, but the U.S. territory was hit with 20 to 30 inches of rain in 24 hours, with some areas seeing 35 inches locally. Maria came ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 155 mph winds -- the first Category 4 storm to hit the island since 1932.

A spokesperson for Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said early Thursday he was with a National Guard unit in Levittown, a coastal suburb of San Juan, where residents had retreated to rooftops due to flooding and as many as 80 percent of homes suffered damage.

Building codes on Puerto Rico unable to withstand Category 5 storms: Expert

The storm knocked out power to the entire island, and the executive director of emergency management on the island said telecommunications had "collapsed."

Rossello imposed a curfew on the island from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. through Saturday.

President Donald Trump tweeted a message of support for the island late Wednesday, which was reciprocated by Rossello. The governor also spoke to Vice President Mike Pence by phone on Wednesday.

Felix Delgado, the mayor of Catano, a city bordered by San Juan to the east, told The Associated Press it would be "months and months" before the island could recover from the damage done by Maria.

Puerto Rico narrowly missed a landfall by Hurricane Irma two weeks ago, with the Category 5 storm traveling just north of the U.S. territory. The island suffered heavy rain and wind, but nothing approaching the widespread damage incurred by Maria.

ABC News' Joshua Hoyos and Max Golembo contributed to this report.

Source

[Mystic Wanderer]

Another Update:

San Juan (AFP) - Flash floods brought fresh misery to Puerto Rico on Thursday after its infrastructure was shattered by Hurricane Maria as President Donald Trump declared the US territory a disaster zone.
The hurricane, which Trump said had "absolutely obliterated" the island, left its 3.4 million people totally without power and officials said it may be months before it is fully restored.
The storm was blamed for 10 deaths in the Caribbean, including a man in northern Puerto Rico's Bayamon district who was struck by a board he had used to cover his windows.
"Puerto Rico is absolutely obliterated," Trump told reporters after declaring the island a disaster area in a move that will free up emergency relief funding.
"Puerto Rico is in a very, very, very tough shape," he said.
Though the storm had moved back out to sea, authorities declared a flash flood warning for all of Puerto Rico as "torrential" rains continued to lash the island.
"If possible, move to higher ground NOW!" the National Weather Service station in San Juan said in a tweet, calling the flooding "catastrophic."
Puerto Rico was expected to receive 20 to 30 inches (51 to 76 centimeters) of rain through Saturday, with some isolated areas receiving 35 inches, the National Hurricane Center said.
The rain had turned some roads in the US territory into muddy brown rivers, impassable to all but the largest of vehicles.
Toppled trees, street signs and power cables were strewn across roads that were also littered with debris.
Although Maria has now passed over Puerto Rico and lost some of its power, it is still packing winds of 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour) and moving northwards towards the Turks and Caicos Islands after brushing the Dominican Republic.
- 'Totally destroyed' -
Puerto Rico's Governor Ricardo Rossello, who called Maria "the most devastating storm in a century" said the island was having to contend with mass flooding and a total breakdown of its power and telecommunications infrastructure.
Ricardo Ramos, who heads the island's electricity board, said it could take months before power is fully restored.
"We recognize that the system, you know, has been totally destroyed," he said of the electricity network.
While the island had suffered major blackouts from previous hurricanes, Ramos said the impact would be felt much more keenly this time.
"Everybody uses, of course, their social media, and the kids play on their electronic games and video games, and now really the customer has changed," he told CNN.
"I guess it's a good time for dads to buy a glove and ball and change the way you entertain your children and the way you are going to go to school and the way you are going to cook for gas stoves other than electric."
- Under curfew -
In San Juan, where tens of thousands rode out the storm in shelters or else hunkered down in their homes, residents told of their terrifying ordeal.
"This was absolutely the worst experience we've had with a hurricane," Kim Neis, an American who has lived on the island for 30 years, told AFP.
"None of the others were anything like as intense as this."
Rossello imposed a 6:00 pm to 6:00 am curfew until Saturday and warned of flooding and mudslides.
"I urge the people of Puerto Rico to commit to peace, understanding, and good judgment during these difficult times for our island," he said.
There were reports of looting and authorities said 10 people had been arrested.
- Dominica devastation -
Maria has already torn through several Caribbean islands, leaving at least seven people dead on Dominica.
In the French territory of Guadeloupe, one person was killed by a falling tree as Maria hit, while another died on the seafront.
At least two are missing after their boat sank off the French territory, while 40 percent of households were without power.
Strong winds were recorded in the Dominican Republic on Thursday due to Maria but there were no immediate reports of casualties or serious damage.
burs-co/cl

Source