SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: Hurricane Maria caused devastation across Puerto Rico Wednesday as 150 mile-an-hour winds from the island’s worst storm in living memory flooded the capital and sent thousands scurrying to shelters.
After killing at least nine people on a string of small Caribbean islands, Maria slammed into Puerto Rico’s southeast coast at daybreak before churning across a territory which is home to 3.4 million.
As tens of thousands of people hunkered down in shelters in the capital San Juan, Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz broke down in tears as she spoke of the utter devastation she had witnessed.
“Many parts of San Juan are completely flooded,” Yulin Cruz told reporters in one of the shelters whose roof swayed as she spoke.
“Our life as we know it has changed... There is a lot of pain and a lot of devastation.”
Maria made landfall as a Category Four storm on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, initially packing winds of a little over 150 mph (240 kph) before easing slightly as it powered toward San Juan.
“The wind sounds like a woman screaming at the top of her lungs!” Mike Theiss wrote on Twitter, sheltering in a safe room in the eye of the storm.
“We are getting absolutely hammered right now.”
Imy Rigau, who was riding out the storm in her apartment in San Juan, said water had “cascaded” through her ceiling.
“We are taking refuge in the hallway as there is about a foot of water in my apartment,” she told AFP.
“I boarded up the windows but with all of this, it seems they are going to be blown away. One of them was smashed up, so we are here in the hallway where there are no windows.”
Many of the most vulnerable of Puerto Rico’s residents took cover in the 500 shelters set up around the island, with officials warning of life-threatening floods.
“As we anticipated, this is the most devastating storm in a century or in modern history,” Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rossello said on CNN as he warned of the danger of flooding and mudslides.
Puerto Rico’s most catastrophic hurricane was back in 1928 when Hurricane Okeechobee — also known as San Felipe Segundo — killed 300 people.
Although engineers had managed to restore power to most of the island after the recent Hurricane Irma, Maria caused a new black-out across the island.
Brock Long, who heads the US federal government’s emergency agency FEMA, warned it could take days for power to be restored on Puerto Rico and the smaller US Virgin Islands which have also been badly hit by Maria.
“Because of the nature of the geography of the islands, it’s a logistical challenge so it will be a frustrating event to get the power back on,” said Long.
The US and British Virgin Islands — still struggling to recover from the devastation of Irma — are also on alert, along with the Turks and Caicos Islands and parts of the Dominican Republic.
Maria has already torn through several Caribbean islands, leaving at least seven people dead on the island of Dominica.
Communications to Dominica have been largely cut, and its airports and ports have been closed.
But an adviser to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who spoke to the premier by satellite phone, painted a picture of devastation on an island that is home to around 73,000 people.
“It’s difficult to determine the level of fatalities but so far seven are confirmed, as a direct result of the hurricane,” Hartley Henry said in a statement.
Reports from rural communities spoke of a “total destruction of homes, some roadways and crops,” added Henry.
“The country is in a daze — no electricity, no running water — as a result of uprooted pipes in most communities and definitely no landline or cellphone services on island, and that will be for quite a while.”
In the French territory of Guadeloupe, one person was killed by a falling tree as Maria hit, while another died on the seafront.
At least two more are missing after their boat sank off the French territory, while some 40 percent of households were without power.
In the US Virgin Islands, locals reported horizontal rain and trees swirling in the wind.
“Very violent and intense right now as we have just begun to experience hurricane force winds,” said 31-year-old Coral Megahy, hunkered down on St. Croix island.
There had been fears that Maria could wreak fresh havoc on islands that were already flattened by Category Five hurricane Irma earlier in the month.
Reports suggested St. Martin, a French-Dutch island that was among the most severely hit by Irma with 14 dead, had escaped the worst this time around.
Britain, France and the Netherlands had boosted resources in their Caribbean territories ahead of Maria, after heavy criticism of poor preparations for Irma.
All three European countries have increased their troop deployments to the region after complaints of looting and lawlessness after Irma.
’Storm of the century’ Maria pummels Puerto Rico
’Storm of the century’ Maria pummels Puerto Rico
India has told Pakistan to control ‘drone intrusions,’ Indian army chief says
- Indian army chief General Upendra Dwivedi says at least eight drones from Pakistani have been sighted since Saturday
- Ties between nuclear-armed neighbors have been frozen since May last year when both sides engaged in fierce fighting
NEW DELHI: India’s army chief said on Tuesday that the head of Pakistan’s military operations had been told to control what he said were drone intrusions from Pakistan into India, months after the nuclear-armed rivals engaged in their worst fighting in decades.
An Indian military source said there were five drone intrusions on Sunday evening on the frontier in the Jammu region of Indian Kashmir.
In another incident on Friday, a drone from Pakistan was suspected to have dropped two pistols, three ammunition magazines, 16 bullets and one grenade that were recovered following a search, the source said.
Indian army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said at least eight drones had been sighted since Saturday.
“These drones, I believe, were defensive drones, which want to go up and see if any action was being taken,” Dwivedi told reporters at an annual press conference ahead of Army Day on January 15.
“It’s possible they also wanted to see if there were any gaps, any laxity in the Indian army, any gaps through which they could send terrorists,” he said, adding that the directors of military operations of the two sides spoke by phone on Tuesday.
“This matter was discussed ... today and they have been told that this is unacceptable to us, and please put a stop to it. This has been conveyed to them,” Dwivedi said.
Indian media reports cited army officials as saying the incursions were by military drones.
There was no immediate reaction from Pakistan to his comments.
MAY CONFLICT WAS WORST IN DECADES
Ties between the nuclear-armed rivals have been frozen since a four-day conflict in May, their worst in decades, that was sparked after a militant
attack on Hindu tourists in Kashmir killed 26 men. New Delhi said the attack was backed by Pakistan, allegations which Islamabad denied.
The two sides used fighter jets, missiles, drones and heavy artillery, killing dozens on both sides before agreeing to a ceasefire.
In the past, there have been reports of civilian drone intrusions from Pakistan into Indian states along the border, with Indian security agencies telling local media that they had shot down drones that were seeking to drop light arms or drugs.
Pakistan has dismissed these accusations as baseless and misleading.
India also accuses Pakistan of helping what it says are “terrorists” to enter into the Indian side of Kashmir, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in a revolt against New Delhi’s rule that began in 1989 and lasted decades until the violence ebbed.
Pakistan denies the Indian accusations and says that it only provides political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris fighting against New Delhi.
