‘There’s nothing to restrict the intensity of’ Hurricane Maria as it nears Puerto Rico, says Hurricane Hunter flight director
Nothing is weakening Category 5 Hurricane Maria as it heads directly for Puerto Rico, according to man in charge of the flight operation through the storm.
“Right now, there’s nothing to restrict the intensity of the storm. It’s over very warm water. There’s nothing shearing the storm. Unfortunately, I wish I had better news for the folks in Puerto Rico,” Richard Henning, flight director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hurricane Hunter, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday as his aircraft was flying in the upper reaches of the storm.
Maria, with maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour, had “leveled off in intensity,” Henning noted. But, Henning also cautioned: “Unfortunately, it’s leveled off at an extreme level of intensity.”
Earlier in the evening, Maria jumped into the list of top 10 hurricanes with the lowest minimum pressure on record in the Atlantic Ocean at 909 millibars. Henning said this is “historically low” for this portion of the Caribbean.
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The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are under direct threat as Maria is “still strengthening,” according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is expected to make landfall over Puerto Rico as a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 storm Wednesday morning. “Locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months,” the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday.
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Hurricane hunter warns there is little to restrict intensity of Maria as it nears Puerto Rico https://t.co/Bcg1kYls0b pic.twitter.com/tymjpAnmP4
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 20, 2017
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