The residents of tiny Dominica have “lost all what money can buy and replace” after Hurricane Maria pounded the Caribbean island early on Tuesday, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said.
“The winds have swept away the roofs of almost every person I have spoken to or otherwise made contact with,” Skerrit said in a Facebook post.
According to AFP, he appealed for “help of all kinds” but noted specifically that helicopters will be needed so that authorities can survey the damage.
An AP report said Skerrit captured the fury of Maria as it made landfall.
“The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God,” Skerrit wrote at the start of a series of increasingly harrowing posts on Facebook.
A few minutes later, he messaged he could hear the sound of galvanized steel roofs tearing off houses on the small rugged island.
{{/usCountry}}A few minutes later, he messaged he could hear the sound of galvanized steel roofs tearing off houses on the small rugged island.
{{/usCountry}}He then wrote that he thought his home had been damaged. And three words: “Rough! Rough! Rough!”
A half hour later, he said: “My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding.” Seven minutes later he posted that he had been rescued.
Hurricane Maria swept over the small island of Dominica with catastrophic Category 5 winds, starting a charge into the eastern Caribbean that threatens islands already devastated by Hurricane Irma.