Puerto Rico hunkers down for Hurricane Maria after storm leaves trail of devastation in Dominica

Just when the Carribean Islands, US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico were slowly crawling back to life after the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma, the region is once again being battered by Hurricane Maria.

The storm, which has been fluctuating between categories four and five, made a landfall in Dominica as a category five storm at midnight and is currently wreaking havoc in St Croix at the US Virgin Islands.

Hurricane Maria has a wind speed of 204 km per hour and has blown away numerous roofs and is bringing down trees and electric poles. Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit took to Facebook to explain the situation and described it as "mind-boggling." "We will need help, my friend, we will need help of all kinds," the PM added, who too had to be rescued from his official residence.

"So far we have lost all what money can buy and replace," Skerrit said on Facebook. "My greatest fear for the morning is that we will wake to news of serious physical injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides triggered by persistent rains."

While the neighbour islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique have not been massively affected, one person has been in Guadeloupe by a falling tree, reported the Guardian. It is also being said that Hurricane Maria has killed about six other people in Dominica, but the reports have not been confirmed yet.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Maria is now fast moving towards Puerto Rico and is said to be 155 km away from San Juan, the capital city. The governor of the island has been urging its residents to move to safer regions as soon as possible.

"There's still time but people need to move fast," Governor Ricardo Rosselló told CNN's. The island faced the fury of Hurricane Irma just a few days ago and now is gearing up for Maria and Rosselló believes that the storm is the "worst hurricane in modern history in Puerto Rico."

This could, in fact, turn out to be true as Maria is set to hit the island as a category five storm in a few hours, with sustained wind speeds of 270 km per hour. The National Hurricane Centre too has labelled the storm as "potentially catastrophic" for Puerto Rico.