LOC17:28
14:28 GMT
WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (KUNA) -- Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that is one of the strongest to ever hit Puerto Rico, made landfall on the island Wednesday, and was expected to cause widespread damage and destruction.
The storm, which passed near or over St. Croix overnight Tuesday, has killed at least nine in the Caribbean.
It came ashore in Puerto Rico in the southeast coastal town of Yabucoa with winds of 155 miles per hour on a track that would virtually bisect the island from southeast to northeast for 12 to 24 hours.
Widespread flooding was reported in the capital of San Juan.
"This is going to be an extremely violent phenomenon," Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said.
"We have not experienced an event of this magnitude in our modern history," Rossello added. (end)
rm.ma