By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Sept. 19, 2017: As Hurricane Maria barreled into Dominica as a category five storm last night with winds near 160 mph, it took off the roof of the house of the country’s prime minister.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt told his Facebook fans that at 9:20 PM EST that his roof was gone.
“My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding,” he wrote. Skerritt had to be rescued in the category five storm as local radio reports said that parts of Dominica were flooded, and there has been a lot of roof damage including at a local hospital.
Dominica has a total population of 73,000 residents.
His post came as the National Hurricane Center said the eye and the intense inner core of the storm made landfall in Dominica and will move near the island and the adjacent Leeward Islands and over the extreme northeastern Caribbean Sea for the remainder of Monday night and today, and approach Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Tuesday night and Wednesday.
A Hurricane warning is in place for Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques while a tropical storm warning is in effect for Antigua and Barbuda, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Anguilla, St. Lucia and Martinique.
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, Anguilla and Isla Saona to Puerto Plata while a tropical storm watch is in effect for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and West of Puerto Plata to the northern Dominican Republic-Haiti border.
Maria is expected to produce rain accumulations of 10 to 15 inches in Central and Southern Leeward Islands and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands through Thursday and isolated 20 inches in isolated areas.
It is forecast to bring 12 to 18 inches to Puerto Rico and as much as 25 inches in isolated areas.
Northern Leeward Islands from Barbuda to Anguilla could see 4 to 8 inches, while the Windward Islands and Barbados could see 2 to 4 inches and Eastern Dominican Republic, 4 to 8 inches.
