ROSEAU, DOMINICA—Dominica’s leader sent out an emotional call for help as Category 5 Hurricane Maria smashed into the Caribbean island, causing “mind-boggling” devastation, but an ominous silence followed as the island lost all communications on Tuesday and the hurricane took aim at Puerto Rico.The governor of the U.S. territory warned that Maria could hit “with a force and violence that we haven’t seen for several generations.”Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit sent a series of dramatic posts on his Facebook page as the storm blew over the tiny country late Monday — but then stopped suddenly as phone and internet connections with the country were cut.“The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God,” Skerrit wrote before communications went down.A few minutes later, he messaged he could hear the sound of galvanized steel roofing tearing off houses on the small rugged island. He said that even his own roof had blown away.In the last message before falling silent, he appealed for international aid: “We will need help, my friends, we will need help of all kinds.”The island’s broadcast service was also down on Tuesday and Akamai Technologies, a company that tracks the status of the internet around the world, said most of Dominica’s internet service appeared to have been lost by midday.The Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica reported a widespread loss of communication on the island, and relatives of students posted messages on its Facebook page saying they had been unable to talk to their loved ones since late Monday evening as the storm approached.Read more:Hurricane Irma ‘extinguished’ a 300-year-old civilization in BarbudaPutting hurricanes and climate change into the same frameIn Irma’s aftermath, Black residents of St. Martin complain France is evacuating white tourists firstOfficials on the neighbouring French i ...
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