The catastrophic attack of Hurricane Maria has knocked out power across the island of Puerto Rico, home to 3.5m people.
Speaking with newsmen, Abner Gómez, head of the disaster management agency, said none of the customers of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority had any electricity. The US National Hurricane Center said “catastrophic” flooding was sweeping parts of the island.
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said one fatality had been reported so far, a man struck by flying debris.
Maria, which has weakened to a category two storm, is moving away from the US territory and heading towards the Dominican Republic.
According to reports, Hurricane Maria damaged buildings in Puerto Rico and left streets covered in debris.
“When we are able to go outside, we are going to find our island destroyed,” Gómez was quoted as saying by the El Nuevo Dia newspaper.
“It’s a system that has destroyed everything in its path.”
Those who emerged from their homes in San Juan after the storm’s passing found streets strewn with debris, fallen power lines and shredded trees.
Rossello therefore issued a curfew for 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday evening through early Saturday morning.
In part it is to protect people from accidents with so many electrical cables down and debris in the streets.
Furthermore there are thousands of properties empty across the island after people sought refuge with family and friends or in emergency shelters.
Once the winds finally died down enough, residents ventured out to assess the damage. On first impressions, it seems the city has avoided widespread devastation but roofs have been ripped off homes, many trees are down, some balconies have fallen from the front of buildings and at least one building had completely collapsed near the waterfront.
The storm has cut a swathe through the Caribbean on its north-westerly trajectory, hitting the small island of Dominica on Monday night where it left at least seven people dead.
Information on the true extent of the damage is taking time to emerge as communications links were severely hit. It is feared the casualty numbers will rise.
