颶風瑪麗亞重創多米尼加

The Caribbean island nation Dominica took a direct hit overnight from Hurricane Maria, after the storm rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane capable of bringing life-threatening storm surge and flooding rains.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit wrote on Facebook that initial reports indicate "widespread devastation."

"So far we have lost all what money can buy and replace. My greatest fear for the morning is that we will wake up to news of serious physical injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides triggered by persistent rains," Skerrit said.

He added that the focus is on finding people injured or trapped in rubble.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Maria had maximum sustained winds early Tuesday of about 250 kilometers per hour. The center of the storm was slowly moving away from Dominica and past the southern coast of Guadaloupe, while bands of strong winds and rain extended to many areas in the Leeward Islands and Lesser Antilles.

The National Hurricane Center expects the eye of Hurricane Maria to approach the U.S. Virgin Islands by late Tuesday as an "extremely dangerous major hurricane," and to cross over Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and authorized Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all relief efforts.加勒比海島國多米尼加星期一夜間受到颶風瑪麗亞重創。此前，瑪麗亞迅速成長爲5級颶風，可能造成危及生命的巨浪和暴雨。

多米尼加總理羅斯福·斯凱里特在臉書上說，初步報道顯示，颶風造成“大面積破壞”。

斯凱里特說：“到目前爲止，我們的損失還是金錢可以彌補的，我最害怕的是一覺醒來，會有消息說，持續降雨造成山體滑坡，導致了嚴重的人員受傷甚至死亡。”

他補充說，當務之急是找到受傷或是被困在廢墟里的人。

美國國家颶風中心說，瑪麗亞星期二早上最高持續風力約每小時250公里，風暴中心正緩慢離開多米尼加，途經瓜達盧佩島南部海岸，狂風和暴雨橫掃背風羣島和小安的列斯羣島大片地區。

國家颶風中心預計，瑪麗亞颶風風眼星期二晚上將直撲美屬維京羣島，是“極其危險的重要颶風”，星期三穿過波多黎各。

美國總統川普已經宣佈，波多黎各和美屬維京羣島爲緊急狀態，授權國土安全部和聯邦緊急事務管理署協調救災努力。