Hurricane Maria causes major damage in Dominica Video provided by AFP Newslook
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Hurricane Maria killed at least seven people on the Caribbean island of Dominica and prompted the Ross University School of Medicine to begin evacuating its 25-acre campus by boat to a neighboring island.
Maria crossed many Caribbean islands at Category 5 strength, lashing homes, businesses and marinas that had already suffered terribly in Hurricane Irma's wake. Widespread phone and power outages complicated efforts to truly understand the scope of Maria’s destruction, which includes street flooding, ripped-off roofs and an unknown number of casualties.
The back edge of Maria was still battering the islands Wednesday as the storm moved west across Puerto Rico.
On the island of Dominica, aerial footage posted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency showed scattered debris and what appeared to be widespread damage. Officials confirmed at least seven deaths and said they expected the toll to rise as rescuers dug through the rubble.
“The country is in a daze — no electricity, no running water — as a result of uprooted pipes in most communities and definitely no landline or cellphone services on island, and that will be for quite a while,” Hartley Henry, principal adviser to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, told the Guardian newspaper after speaking to Skerrit via satellite phone.
“In summary, the island has been devastated. The housing stock significantly damaged or destroyed. All available public buildings are being used as shelters, with very limited roofing materials evident,” he said.
Officials are calling for helicopters to help carry supplies to outlying areas, Henry said, and authorities hoped to clear off runways and ports to allow relief vessels and large aircraft to ferry in emergency aid.
At the Ross University School of Medicine, workers there were conserving battery power for their satellite phones and preparing to evacuate the entire campus to neighboring St. Lucia, which escaped damage. HAM operators on Dominica were broadcasting and sharing information via Facebook.
More: Ross University campus updates
“Our crisis team continues to be in communication with the U.S. State Department about the possibility of a larger-scale military evacuation, but as of now, moving forward with our evacuation plan is our best choice,” Ross officials said in a website post Wednesday. 
“We plan to begin the transport of people with taking care of the children and elderly first. Each family will be permitted to have one parent travel with their children. We will also certainly transport anyone with any serious injuries in this first group, although we are grateful to report at this time that we have few reports of injuries, and those are said to be somewhat minor,” the post said.
In 2015, Ross University opened a new student center designed to withstand Category 5 hurricanes, university officials said 
On the U.S. Virgin Islands, videos posted to social media showed downed power lines and trees on St. Croix and widespread street flooding and submerged cars on St. Thomas.
Larry Williams said his family and friends rode out the storm in his St. Croix home, which came through with little damage. Emerging afterward, however, he saw widespread damage from the wind: “A lot of roofs are gone, but the biggest damage is power poles that were snapped.”
Williams, a commodities trader and father of actress Michelle Williams, said heavy rains from the storm caused localized flooding, but he’d heard no reports of injuries in his area. He said the island’s already-shaky power supply would likely be offline for months, although many people have diesel generators with limited fuel supplies. He said the biggest challenge will be rebuilding infrastructure.
“It’s nothing that money can’t replace, but it’s going to take some time,” he said via a spotty cell phone connection.
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St. John resident Rebecca Reinbold, 33, evacuated before Maria arrived. After riding out Irma with her husband and son, the family decided it would be best for her husband, Chris, to stay on the island while she and Hunter, 4, sought safety on the mainland from the second storm. Reinbold, who is staying with friends in California, said she slept about 15 minutes Tuesday night.
“I spent the night feeling like I was going to throw up,” Reinbold said. “As the morning has gone on, watching people check in on Facebook and check in statewide has been everything.”
Reinbold said her husband called her first thing Wednesday from a borrowed satellite phone but was able to make a spotty cellphone call a little later in the day. That tells her a lot about the damage: Irma took down cell service for five days.
“There’s definitely damage, and water is the main issue,” she said. “It’s still windy and they haven’t been able to venture out to check on my mom.”

Reinbold, a PR consultant, said island residents now face a new challenge in persuading tourists to return. The islands are heavily dependent on vacationers and honeymooners on tropical getaways, and the loss of those visitors and their money will be catastrophic for the hotel staff, bartenders, charter captains and wedding coordinators, she said.
“We want to return, we want to rebuild,” she said. “But what do you do when there are no jobs to return to? Most people on St. John … your job is intrinsically tied to tourism and without tourism, there is no job.”
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