Maria thrashes Dominican Republic
After thrashing Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria continued its path of destruction Thursday — pounding the Dominican Republic with heavy rain and high winds, with the Turks and Caicos in its cross hairs.
Maria had weakened as it swept through Puerto Rico, but picked up strength on its way over warm Caribbean waters and became a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 115 mph.
Punta Cana, a popular tourist area in the Dominican Republic, was hit with wind gusts of 58 mph and Maria was forecast to bring storm surges of up to 6 feet across the island.
The US National Hurricane Center said Maria was headed toward the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas, bringing dangerous storm surges as high as 12 feet.
Maria was then expected to move north in the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend, but there was no indication yet whether it would hit the continental United States.
Forecasts by the National Hurricane Center showed it veering sharply to the north and spinning up the Atlantic in the corridor between Bermuda and the Atlantic seaboard.
It was classified as a Category 5 storm when it struck Dominica with devastating force Monday night.
Based on an aerial survey, about 95 percent of roofs in Dominica, with a population of about 73,000, were damaged or destroyed by Maria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Passing early Wednesday just west of St. Croix, Maria damaged an estimated 65 percent to 70 percent of the island’s buildings, said Holland Redfield, who served six terms in the US Virgin Islands Senate, according to Reuters.
With Post wires
