Nine Dead Are Reported By Hurricane Maria

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The Caribbean has not yet recovered from Irma's pass and now it has to face a new scourge of nature with the powerful Hurricane Maria, which this morning made landfall in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with reported gusts of wind of up to 250 kilometers per hour.

The destructive passage of Maria has left, so far, nine people dead and two others missing, in addition to incalculable material losses, as reported by Time magazine.

Although the storm reduced her strength, experts still fear her step is more devastating than Irma's. This was the first Category 4 hurricane whose eye passed directly through Puerto Rican soil in more than 85 years.

As reported by the online site of the newspaper El Mundo, the water level in locations such as the municipality of Yabucoa in Puerto Rico would have already registered an increase of 1.3 meters. Some media add that the entire island is without electricity.

"Probably the most dangerous in modern history", said yesterday about the hurricane Ricardo Rosselló, governor of the island, in clear signal of maximum alert to the citizens of the island so that they will take the necessary precautions and measures to protect their lives during the scourge of the storm.

The director of the State Agency for Emergency Management and Disaster Administration (AEMEAD) gave a direct warning to Puerto Ricans: do not go out on the streets until Friday. "The information we have received is not encouraging. It is a system that has destroyed everything in its path, "he said. "When we can get out, we are going to find our destroyed island."

The strong winds, the torrential rains and the inclement tide have flooded much of Puerto Rico, as can be seen in the multiple videos and images that citizens have shared through social networks.