6 p.m.
Category 5 Hurricane Maria's maximum sustained winds have increased to 175 mph.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami says an Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter plane took the reading Tuesday evening as the storm was about 70 miles southeast of St. Croix.
Maria is moving west-northwest at 10 mph and is expected to pass near the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday night and hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
[HURRICANE TRACKER: Follow Maria's projected path]
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Photos by The Associated Press
Photos by The Associated Press
4 p.m.
An even stronger Hurricane Maria is moving steadily toward the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and is likely to still be a powerful category 5 storm when it arrives.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that Maria's winds had intensified to 165 mph late Tuesday afternoon and that some additional strengthening was possible Tuesday evening.
At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Maria was centered about 175 miles southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was moving west-northwest at 10 mph.
A hurricane warning was in effect for Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, as well as St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat and portions of the Dominican Republic.
Hurricane center forecasters say it "now appears likely" that Maria will still be at Category 5 intensity when it moves over the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The center of the hurricane was forecast to move near or over the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix and Puerto Rico on Tuesday night and Wednesday, bringing with it "life-threatening" flooding from rain and storm surge.
3:30 p.m.
France's interior minister has made an initial damage assessment after Hurricane Maria passed over two French Caribbean islands and says at least 150,000 homes are without electricity.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said in Paris on Tuesday that the hurricane left 80,000 households in Guadeloupe and 70,000 in Martinique without power.
Collomb warned that Maria still was passing through St. Martin and St. Barts islands, French territories that suffered extreme damage from Hurricane Irma.
The extent of the damage from Tuesday's hurricane is yet to be assessed on those islands and in Guadeloupe. Collomb says Martinique's airport is still operating.
The Guadeloupe prefecture said earlier that one person died and two others were missing there. Collomb said there were three people wounded in Martinique, including one seriously.
2:50 p.m.
Potentially catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Maria is lashing the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with rain.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the powerful storm was located about 195 miles southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 2 p.m. Monday. It had maximum sustained winds of 165 mph and was moving 10 mph.
The center said the hurricane was expected to remain an "extremely dangerous" category 4 or 5 hurricane when it passes near or over the Virgin Islands overnight and Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
2:30 p.m.
An official from the Caribbean island of Dominica says officials have been told that extremely powerful Hurricane Maria tore the roofs off 70 percent of the island's homes and that there have been unconfirmed reports of deaths.
Consul General Barbara Dailey told The Associated Press in a phone interview from New York that officials have not been able to reach anyone on the island since 4 a.m. Tuesday and that they are extremely concerned.
Maria swept over the island overnight as a Category 5 storm, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
Dailey noted that her house on the island lost its roof, as did the official residence of the prime minister, Roosevelt Skeritt.
She says Dominica will be in desperate need of aid and emergency supplies in the coming days.
Noon
Officials say one person has died on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe after being hit by a falling tree.
It's the first death attributed to Category 5 Hurricane Maria.
Authorities say the person did not comply with orders to remain indoors Tuesday morning. They say two other people are reported missing after their boat sank off La Desirade island, just east of Guadeloupe.
About 40 percent of the island is without power. That's 80,000 homes. Flooding has been reported in several communities, especially along the southern coast.
Officials say Les Saintes, Marie-Galant, Petit-Bourg and La Desirade have been the hardest hit. Roads are littered with fallen branches and trees, but only limited infrastructure damage has been reported.
11:25 a.m.
MIAMI — A company that tracks the status of the Internet around the world says most of Dominica's Internet service appears to be down in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
Akamai Technologies says it sees small spikes of activity but far less than normal Tuesday.
The company says it's possible that the island's electrical system is down.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was posting on Facebook after the Category 5 storm hit overnight, but his posts ceased hours ago, and many report difficulties reaching people on the island by telephone.
10:55 a.m.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott says his state's residents should carefully monitor Hurricane Maria.
The Category 5 storm is forecast to veer out into the Atlantic and miss the state. But Scott reminded people Tuesday that Hurricane Irma's path shifted as it approached the U.S. and it wound up causing devastation.
Scott encouraged people to restock their hurricane kits, buy water and have an evacuation plan.
He said that about 2 percent of the state's electric customers are still without power due to Irma.
His comments came as he thanked first responders during an event in Tampa.
10:15 a.m.
U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp says that the track of Hurricane Maria has shifted and the eye is now expected to pass over the southwestern tip of St. Croix.
That means parts of the island are expected to experience the full force of the storm winds that have now reached 160 mph. Conditions are expected to deteriorate tonight with the approach of the "extremely, extremely dangerous hurricane."
The Virgin Islands are already reeling from Hurricane Irma, which passed over the islands of St. Thomas and St. John.
Mapp warned Tuesday that Maria is expected to bring up to 12 inches of rain to St. John.
10:05 a.m.
Forecasters say potentially catastrophic Hurricane Maria is continuing on its course toward the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said at 10 a.m. that the extremely dangerous Category 5 storm is forecast to hit the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
The top sustained winds of the storm are near 160 mph, and the Miami-based center says some fluctuations in intensity are likely over the coming days.
The eye of Maria was about 85 miles west of Guadeloupe, or about 170 mile southeast of St. Croix. It was moving to the west-northwest at 10 mph.
Meanwhile, Jose remained a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic as it whipped up dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast. It was about 335 miles south-southwest of Nantucket, Mass., and had top sustained winds of 75 mph.
10 a.m.
Family and friends of people studying at Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica are anxiously trying to find news of their loved ones following the passage of Hurricane Maria.
The school says there is widespread loss of communication on the island.
Many messages posted on Facebook by friends and family say they have been unable to talk to students since late Monday evening as the storm approached.
One woman says her husband spoke to their daughter at 6 p.m. as the storm was in full force. She wrote that her daughter was "very scared but safe with friends." But she has not heard from her since.
9:30 a.m.
Coastal flooding from Hurricane Jose has prompted North Carolina to close parts of the main highway on the Outer Banks.
The state transportation department says that parts of N.C. Highway 12 were closed by flooding Tuesday morning.
The agency says the road north of the Pea Island Visitors Center was temporarily closed until the tide subsides.
The ocean was washing over areas south of the Bonner Bridge to Cape Hatteras.
The department also said Monday that ocean overwash was occurring at Pea Island, Rodanthe, Avon and Hatteras village on Hatteras Island.
A coastal flood warning was issued for Dare County on the Outer Banks through Tuesday night. Rip current warnings were posted from north of Wilmington to the Virginia state line.
8:10 a.m.
About 25,000 households lost electricity and two small towns are without potable water after Hurricane Maria roared past the French island of Martinique, damage considered minimal.
The head of French civil security, Jacques Witkowski, told reporters in Paris on Tuesday that it was too soon to say whether the French department of Guadaloupe was so lucky. Communications there have been difficult. He says two people suffered minor injuries.
The prefect, or highest French official, of Guadaloupe, Eric Maire, said in a video via Twitter that some roads and homes were flooded and heavy rain is expected to continue. He told island residents to "remain inside" amid the flood threat and warnings by forecasters of possible landslides.
France is upping its manpower in the region, with two flights taking off on Tuesday, the first carrying 160 firefighters and military personnel to Martinique.
7:35 a.m.
New York state officials have deployed members of the National Guard and specialized emergency response units to Long Island to prepare for potentially severe weather caused by Hurricane Jose.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says 100 members of the National Guard, 13 members of an urban search and rescue team, and 20 high-axle vehicles will set up a command post at a welcome center on the Long Island Expressway in Dix Hills in Suffolk County. That coastal county is under a tropical storm watch.
The Democratic governor says the facility will be open to members of the public seeking shelter during severe weather.
Cuomo organized a storm briefing at the welcome center Tuesday morning. Hurricane Jose, though still far out in the Atlantic, is producing rough surf along the East Coast.