Hurricane Maria: What we know now, where it is going

by Dramelin 9:00 AM 0 comments

Hurricane Maria, the latest major storm to swing in from the Atlantic, continues its destructive path across the Caribbean, with the possibility remaining that it could make landfall on the mainland U.
So far, nine deaths from the storm have been confirmed – two on the French island of Guadaloupe, which was hit hard.
Earlier, the small island of Dominica also was slammed, with the prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, saying that his nation was “devastated.
” Early on Wednesday, officials said at least seven people had been killed there.
Here’s the latest: Where is Maria now? The storm made landfall near the town of Yabucoa, in the southeast of Puerto Rico, which is a U.
Earlier, it hit the offshore Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra.
It then tracked northwest across the island toward the capital, San Juan, moving at about 10 mph.
How strong was it at landfall in Puerto Rico? Maria, which had been a Category 5 hurricane – the highest classification – was at Category 4 when it hit Puerto Rico, packing winds of between 130 and 156 mph.
It is, by measure of air pressure, the third-strongest storm to make landfall in the United States, according to officials quoted by the Associated Press.
The lower the central pressure a storm has, the stronger it is.
Maria’s pressure was 917 millibars, which is lower than Irma’s U.
landfall of 929 millibars in the Florida Keys and Hurricane Katrina’s landfall of 920.
Puerto Rico had long been spared from a direct hit by hurricanes, with the last Category 4 storm occurring in 1932.
The strongest storm to ever hit the island was San Felipe in 1928 with winds of 160 mph.
Where was it before Puerto Rico? Maria has taken a more southerly route than Irma, first hitting Dominica and Guadaloupe before moving toward Puerto Rico, which largely avoided the devastation wreaked by Irma as it skirted to the north.
Where is it going next? According to the National Hurricane Center, Maria is expected to continue on a northwest track, moving along the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic on Thursday before skirting the southern Bahamas early on Friday.
It is then predicted to swing to the north into the open Atlantic and move between the American East Coast and Bermuda.
However, the longer-term forecasts are less certain – Hurricane Irma swung to the west coast of Florida having been predicted to hit the east coast.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.
ly/2yd0Grh.