By the Caribbean Journal staff

Hurricane Maria made landfall on the Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica on Monday night as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour, according to the NOAA’s National Hurricane Center.

The storm had already caused “significant damage to structures” in Dominica, according to ham radio reports.

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit posted on Facebook that his home had lost its roof and then flooded, although he was eventually rescued.

“We do not know what is happening outside. We not dare look out. All we are hearing is the sound of galvanize flying. The sound of the fury of the wind. As we pray for its end!” he posted during the storm.

The storm brought immense winds and dangerous storm surges that could raise water levels by as much as 7 to 11 feet above normal tide levels, along with as much as 20 inches of rain.

Hurricane-force winds were spreading across neighboring Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for Guadeloupe, Dominica, St Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Antigua and Barbuda, Saba, St Eustatius, St Maarten, Anguilla, St Lucia and Martinique.

The eye of Maria was expected to move over the northeastern Caribbean sea on Tuesday and then approach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Some fluctuations are expected in the next day or two, according to the National Hurricane Center, but Maria is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous storm as it heads toward Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

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