INTERNATIONAL NEWS - Hurricane Maria, the second maximum-strength Atlantic storm of the season, has reached the southernmost Virgin Islands as it heads for Puerto Rico.
The category five hurricane began lashing St Croix in its north-westerly path across the Caribbean.
On Monday it inflicted substantial damage on Dominica and the first aerial images of the island have emerged.
The storm briefly weakened to a four but is now again packing top sustained winds of 280km/h (175mph).
The storm is moving roughly along the same track as Irma, this season's other category five hurricane.
The governor of Puerto Rico, a US territory, has told the island's 3.5 million people to seek shelter with the hurricane poised to make landfall around 8am local time (1300 GMT).
