Stormy Season Continues

The island of Puerto Rico—a United States territory of about 3.5 million people—took a direct hit from Hurricane Maria on Wednesday. This most recent storm brought heavy rains and powerful, steady winds of 155 miles per hour. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have evacuated (moved away from a dangerous place) from their homes to safer public shelters. By Wednesday night, all of Puerto Rico had lost power.

Hurricane Maria came less than two weeks after another major hurricane, Hurricane Irma, tore through the islands in the Caribbean Sea and the southern U.S. Damage from Maria’s winds and flooding is expected to be widespread across Puerto Rico. Residents reported that high winds had snapped trees, blown out windows, and pulled roofs off homes. Rising waters flooded the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan and other communities. Roads and streets were covered in chest-deep water. Communication was cut off in many areas as the storm disabled cell phone towers.

“The information we have received is not encouraging,” says Puerto Rico’s emergency management director, Abner Gomez. “It’s a [storm] system that has destroyed everything it has had in its path.”

Hurricane Maria took forecasters by surprise earlier this week with how quickly it strengthened. In little more than 24 hours, it transformed from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane. It struck the small islands of Guadeloupe and Dominica in full fury on Monday. On Dominica, reports indicated at least 15 people had died and 90 percent of buildings were damaged. After battering St. Croix, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Maria reached Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane. It was one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the island.

Hurricanes are powerful storms that draw energy from warm ocean waters. They are ranked in categories from 1 to 5 based on wind speed. Category 1 is the weakest, with steady winds of 74 to 95 miles per hour. Category 5 is the strongest, with winds reaching 157 miles per hour or higher.

This year’s hurricane season, which typically lasts from June to November, is already one of the most active on record. So far, 2017 has seen seven hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.

Because Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, Puerto Ricans are American citizens. However, they do not have all the constitutional rights of citizenship. For example, they do not have voting representation in Congress and cannot vote for president. In addition, the island is experiencing an economic crisis. Many people there have little money or other resources. Officials in Puerto Rico fear Hurricane Maria will likely make the economic crisis much worse, depending on the extent of the storm damage.

Based on Maria’s destructive power, the National Hurricane Center predicts a long road to recovery for Puerto Rico. “Locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months,” it reported. It may also take months for power to be restored to the entire island.

More than 3,000 U.S. emergency personnel are already in the Caribbean region to support recovery efforts from Hurricane Irma. Their mission may now include helping the people of Puerto Rico recover from Maria.