Hurricane Maria turns street into raging river

A torrent of flood water from Hurricane Maria turned a street in Puerto Rico into a raging river yesterday as the super storm struck the Caribbean island.

It is the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years and destroyed hundreds of homes, knocked out power across the entire island and triggered heavy flooding. 

Video taken from a house in the southern coastal city of Guayama showed the brown water cascading down the narrow street carrying wind-downed debris.

The category 5 Hurricane Maria devastated the Leeward Islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe on Monday before it struck the US territory of Puerto Rico yesterday.

About 11,000 people on the island fled to shelters as the superstorm brought down power lines, snapped trees and wrecked rooves.

Maria was expected to dump as much as 66cm of rain on parts of Puerto Rico, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

Storm surges, when hurricanes push ocean water dangerously over normal levels, could be up to 2.7 metres. The heavy rainfall could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, it added.