Puerto Rico loses electricity after Hurricane Maria flash flooding – as it happened

The US National Hurricane Center has downgraded Maria to a category 2 storm after it devastated Puerto Rico. The weather service cautioned that the hurricane could strengthen and again become a major hurricane by Thursday.
The top sustained winds of the storm were placed at near 110 mph (175 kph) with higher gusts about 5 pm Wednesday.
The storm system is expected to continue moving away from Puerto Rico in coming hours before passing offshore the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic tonight and early Thursday.
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Puerto Rico is experiencing serious issues with electricity and cell phone connectivity, but some images of the scenes there are emerging on social media.
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Fema - all energy customers without power

Federal officials report all energy customers in Puerto Rico are without power at this time, a spokesperson for Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) told the Guardian.
The spokesperson said Fema’s top priority is protecting the lives and safety of those impacted by the Hurricane Maria. It and other agencies pre-positioned first responders on Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to help deploy support operations efficiently.
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The White House just released a statement on its response to the hurricanes.
The President continues to direct all necessary Federal resources to protect the people of the United States territories affected by Hurricane Maria and to support response and recovery efforts with respect to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. He and the First Lady send their thoughts and prayers to all those in harm’s way.
Earlier today, Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, asked Trump to declare the region a disaster zone. The White House gave the country an emergency declaration, which is a designation below “disaster”.
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Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, has ordered a curfew in the territory from 6pm until 6am local time, saying it is essential to maintain order. The curfew is in place until 6am on Saturday.
People exempt from the curfew are: state and federal government officials, state and federal security agency personnel, health workers, reporters and people that may be in an emergency situation.
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