Hurricane Maria Devastates Puerto Rico, Caribbean

From The Weather Channel

In Puerto Rico, there is “sheer pain in people’s eyes” and “horror in the streets” as the U.S. commonwealth attempts to recover from the devastation left by Hurricane Maria.

“We’re in God’s hands,” said one resident, resigning herself to what many are calling apocalyptic destruction.

The images coming from the island look more like something out of war zone than a tropical paradise. Debris from demolished homes is everywhere, and parts of the island are still flooded waist deep with dirty, contaminated water. People wade through the sludge, or pick their way among the fallen trees and buildings, on a mission for food, fresh drinking water or medicine.

Some search for cell phone signals, desperate to let friends and family know they are safe and get word about the fate of others.

Maria laid waste to both Puerto Rico and the island of Dominica on its path through the Caribbean and left extensive damage in both the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guadeloupe.

The storm killed at least 47 people and smashed into Puerto Rico morning as a Category 4 hurricane, twisting metal, snapping trees and utility poles and crippling the island. Authorities there say the commonwealth could be without power for up to six months.

“Months and months and months and months are going to pass before we can recover from this,” Felix Delgado, mayor of the northern coastal city of Cataño, told the Associated Press.

“The devastation in Puerto Rico has set us back nearly 20 to 30 years,” Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez told AP.

Before hitting Puerto Rico, the storm slammed into the small Caribbean island of Dominica as a Category 5 hurricane with “mind-boggling” devastation, according to the country’s prime minister.

On the devastated island of Dominica, aerial footage showed widespread damage.

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