Hurricane Maria was a powerful Category 5 hurricane that had catastrophic landfalls in Dominica and Puerto Rico, being both the most powerful and deadliest hurricane for both islands on record.

Hurricane Maria formed as a named storm on September 16, 2017. On September 18, Maria intensified into a major hurricane as it approached the Lesser Antilles. The evening of that day, just a little over an hour before it made landfall in Dominica, Maria became a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 145 kt (165 mph). Hurricane Maria caused widespread destruction across Dominica, as the majority of the island’s infrastructure and vegetation was impacted.

After passing over Dominica, Maria continued northwest across the eastern Caribbean Sea. Around midnight on September 20, Hurricane Maria reached its peak intensity, with a minimum pressure of 908 mb and maximum sustained winds of 150 kt (175 mph).

Later that morning on September 20, just before sunrise, Hurricane Maria made landfall near Yabucoa, Puerto Rico on the southeast coast of the island as a strong Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of 135 kt (155 mph). Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico hard, its strong winds and torrential rains leading to widespread flooding, thousands of landslides, and knocked out the power to nearly the entire island, with some areas not getting power back until almost a year later.

Once Hurricane Maria moved passed Puerto Rico and entered the Atlantic Ocean, it made a close pass with the Turks and Caicos Islands before it moved northward and slowly began to weaken. After coming within 150 miles (240 km) of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Maria moved to the east out over the North Atlantic Ocean, fully dissipating on October 2, 2017.

For more information, visit the National Hurricane Center.