Hurricane Maria batters Dominica, heads to Puerto Rico, St. Croix

WASHINGTON. KAZINORM Hurricane Maria, which wreaked havoc on the Caribbean island of Dominica, has reintensified to a category 5 storm on its path towards the Virgin Islands and the United States territory Puerto Rico, where warnings were issued for life-threatening storm surges and possible landslides, authorities said Tuesday, according to EFE .

The US-based National Hurricane Center said a recent flyover by an Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft recorded sustained wind speeds of up to 260 kph (160 mph) as Maria beats a west-northwesterly path towards St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, from where it is projected to move over Puerto Rico.

"A life-threatening storm surge, accompanied by large and destructive waves, is expected for the Leeward Islands, the US and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Life-threatening flash floods and mudslides are also expected," the NHC said in its latest bulletin.

"Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," it added, warning that Maria will likely make landfall in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico throughout the night and into Wednesday.

At 9.00 am GMT, the eye of the storm was located 325 kilometers (205 miles) southeast of St. Croix and was advancing WNW at a speed of 15 kph.

Maria made landfall in Dominica - an island of around 75,000 inhabitants located between the French territories of Guadeloupe in north and Martinique in the south - at 9.15 pm local time on Monday as a category 5 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of up to 260 kph, causing widespread damage.

"So far we have lost all what money can buy and replace," Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a statement, adding that his focus now was to rescue those who were trapped and providing medical assistance to the injured.

Immediately after landfall, Skerrit had posted a series of updates on social media detailing the fury of the hurricane.

"My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding," he wrote in one post, later adding that he was rescued.

NHC predicted Maria, which weakened during its passage through Dominica, would advance through the Caribbean on Tuesday fluctuating between category 4 and 5.

The University of Barry on Monday evacuated 72 people from its St. Croix campus and shifted them to Miami in a private plane.

St. Croix, the biggest of the Virgin Islands, is inhabited by around 50,000 people.

The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have already borne the brunt of Irma, the powerful category 5 hurricane which caused 26 deaths in the Caribbean and left a trail of destruction in Barbuda, San Martin, northern Cuba and the Florida Keys.