飓风玛丽亚重创多米尼加

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.