Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico

Strong winds uprooted trees at a parking lot in Roberto Clemente Coliseum, Puerto Rico. Pic/AFP

Hurricane Maria roared ashore in Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the strongest storm to hit the US territory in about 90 years after lashing the US Virgin Islands and devastating a string of tiny Caribbean islands, killing at least one person.

Packing 155 mile per hour (250 kph) winds and driving high storm surges, Maria made landfall near Yabouca, the National Hurricane Center said.

It was heading northwest, on a track directly over the island of 3.4 million people. It struck just days after the region was punched by Hurricane Irma.