Dominica

Hurricane Maria slammed into the Caribbean island of Dominica as a Category 5 storm with "merciless" 160 mph winds Monday night, and the storm, deemed "potentially catastrophic" by the National Hurricane Center, is now headed for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Hurricane Maria pounded the small island of Dominica with catastrophic winds, starting a charge into the eastern Caribbean that threatens islands already devastated by Hurricane Irma and holds the possibility of a direct hit on Puerto Rico.

Maria blew up from a tropical storm into a major Category 5 hurricane in barely more than a day, bearing down on Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands that are still bailing out from Hurricane Irma, NBC News reports.

Maria was forecast Sept. 17 to surge to major hurricane strength as it nears the storm-battered eastern Caribbean with 140 kilometer per hour winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, on a path similar to that of mega storm Irma earlier in the month.

Storm warnings and watches went up in many of the Caribbean islands still reeling from Irma's destructive passage.

Maria is expected to become a dangerous major hurricane as it nears the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean, reported BBC. 

The category one hurricane will rapidly strengthen over the next 48 hours and will hit the islands late on Monday, the US National Hurricane Center says.

It is moving roughly along the same path as Irma, the hurricane that devastated the region this month.

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