Hurricane Maria — with winds of up to 160 mph — was upgraded to Category 5 storm on Monday night, as it barreled toward Puerto Rico and Caribbean islands still recovering from Irma.
The White House declared a state of emergency on the US commonwealth, authorizing FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate disaster relief efforts.
Storm-weary residents of the Caribbean island chain were urged to flee their already Irma-ravaged homes and seek shelter.
By the time Maria nears the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico late Tuesday, it could pack 155-mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center.
“If you’re alive and well, you can rebuild,” Gov. Kenneth Mapp said at a press conference on Monday. “If you’re out there trying to hold on to your property, it’s not going to be a good outcome.”
Tenants of the badly damaged Tutu High Rise community on St. Thomas — where one woman died during Hurricane Irma — underwent a mandatory evacuation Monday. Photos of the building show blown-out windows and debris still strewn across floors.
Mapp told residents of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas to finish up their storm preparations by Monday evening, in time for a curfew that takes effect on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
“We’re hopeful this is the last event for the year,” Mapp said. “By 2 p.m. you’re going to start experiencing tropical-storm winds on St. Croix, and then we’re going to have a very long night.”
Many ferries have been taking evacuees to Puerto Rico, which is expected to suffer a direct hit from the monster storm.
“I’m still in shock that I’m leaving,” St. John resident Teri Hogg, 43, told USA Today as she boarded a boat to Puerto Rico.
“There’s not enough water or fuel here,” she said. “We have to leave.”
Maria, which had sustained winds of 130 mph on Monday, is forecast to move just south of the Virgin Islands by late Tuesday, creating a life-threatening storm surge of up to nine feet and bringing up to 20 inches of rain to some areas.
It’s then expected to pass directly over Puerto Rico, where the governor has declared a state of emergency. A Category 4 hurricane hasn’t made landfall on the island since 1932.
“We want to alert the people of Puerto Rico that this is not an event like we’ve ever seen before,” Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Monday. “It is time to seek refuge with a family member, friend or head to a state shelter.”
“Flood-prone areas must be abandoned,” said Public Security Secretary Héctor Pesquera. “If not, you will die.”