PUERTO RICO
Hurricane Maria continued to pummel its way through Puerto Rico on Wednesday, bringing destructive winds, flooding rain and storm surge to the U.S. territory and the nearby Virgin Islands. The Weather Channel said it was “the most intense hurricane landfall [in P.R.] since before the Great Depression.”
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello turned to Twitter to share that he asked President Donald Trump “to declare Puerto Rico a disaster area” in hopes of receiving full FEMA assistance and additional relief.
Informo al Pueblo que acabo de solicitarle al Presidente Trump que declare a Puerto Rico Zona de Desastre @fema
— Ricardo Rossello (@ricardorossello) September 20, 2017
The Associated Press shared an update from El Nuevo Dia that said “80 percent of homes in a small fishing community near San Juan were damaged” and that “communication was severed with several emergency posts.” Additionally, WKAQ-AM said “about 90 percent of customers were without power.”
Editor's Note: As of Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 20, Hurricane Maria knocked out all power in P.R.
According to CNN’s latest reporting, Maria killed at least seven people on the Caribbean island nation of Dominica, which is assessing damage and communicating with Antigua and Barbuda. Hurricane Maria was expected to drop 12 to 18 inches of rain on Puerto Rico, before moving on to Turks and Caicos.
The current path of Hurricane Maria shows it avoiding Florida and the U.S. East Coast.
Stay tuned to the Meetings Today website for more updates as they become available.
