Hurricane maria lashes Dominican Republic

Hurricane Maria thrashed parts of the Dominican Republic with heavy rain and high winds as it passed off its east coast on Thursday after making a direct hit on Puerto Rico.

This has caused severe flooding and cut power to almost all the island. Hurricane Maria has killed at least 10 people as it raged through the Caribbean region, the second major hurricane to do so this month.

Scare as Hurricane Maria grows to Category 2, nears battered Caribbean

Hurricane Maria strengthened into a Category 2 storm on Monday and pushed toward the Leeward Islands in the eastern Caribbean, as forecasters warned it was expected to become a major hurricane by early Tuesday.

The storm was on a path that would take it near many of the islands already wrecked by Hurricane Irma and then on toward Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Maria could hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday as a Category 3 or 4 hurricane, said Ernesto Morales with the US National Weather Service in San Juan.

Hurricane Irma: Quarter of Florida Keys homes destroyed, US officials estimate

Search-and-rescue teams made their way into the Florida Keys' farthest reaches Tuesday, while federal officials estimated one-quarter of all homes in the Keys were destroyed.

Two days after Irma roared into the island chain with 130 mph winds, residents were allowed to return to the parts of the Keys closest to Florida's mainland. But the full extent of the death and destruction there remained a question mark because communications and access were cut off in places.

Scare as five million told to flee as Hurricane Irma heads for Florida

Irma trained its sights on Florida and officials warned more than 5 million people that time was running out Friday to evacuate ahead of the deadly hurricane as it followed a path that could take it from one end of the state to the other.

By early evening, Irma was a slightly weakened Category 4 storm with winds of 250 kph and forecasters said it could be back up to Category 5 when it comes ashore near Key West on Sunday morning.

Hurricane Irma batters French overseas territories

Hurricane Irma roared into the Caribbean with record force early Wednesday, its 185mph winds shaking homes and flooding buildings on a chain of small islands including French overseas territories.

The strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever recorded passed almost directly over the island of Barbuda, causing widespread flooding and downing trees.