Â鶹ԼÅÄ

Image source, Getty Images

British overseas territories are bracing themselves for Hurricane Maria, as it lays waste to the same islands battered by Hurricane Irma earlier this month.

Carolyne Coleby, a sheep farmer on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, told the Press Association: "It is raining and the winds are picking up - it is going to hit us from the south, which is very serious."

Montserrat escaped the clutches of Irma relatively unscathed, but Ms Coleby said people have been told to be "much more worried" this time.

"This is the most serious hurricane we have had so far. It is the third one in two weeks, but this is serious for us because of the direction it is approaching," she said.

The little island has a population of about 5,000 people - and an active volcano. Ms Coleby said she fears Montserrat's geological make-up could cause problems such as landslides and flooding.

In the latest from the US National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Maria is downgraded to a category four, with winds expected to reach up to 250km/h (155mph).

Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says the island has suffered "widespread devastation". He fears landslides could follow as rains pound the Caribbean, causing injury and death. He is appealing to "friendly nations and organisations with helicopter services" to come to Dominica's aid.

As Maria passed over Dominica's mountains, it lost some of its power, but that didn't last long. Meteorologists say it is quickly regaining its force as it moves towards Guadeloupe.

The from the US National Hurricane Center at 04:00BST said it was still a category five hurricane.

Mark Brantley, the foreign minister for St Kitts and Nevis which is also in the path of Hurricane Maria, has quoted Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit as saying the island has been "devastated".

That's according to broadcaster Guadeloupe 1ere, which says it should hit Guadeloupe's southern islands of Bas de Terre at about 03:00 local time (08:00 BST).

We've put together by Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit as Hurricane Maria tore the roof from the building he was taking shelter in.

The French territory of about 400,000 people is now getting the brunt of Maria's winds - but the French flag is remaining upright, just.

Maria's intensification has shocked meteorologists - it was not even a hurricane a day and a half ago, but grew rapidly.

In the few hours before striking Dominica, it went from a category three storm, to a category four, before making landfall as a "potentially catastrophic" category five.

Here's a sense of how quickly it grew:

Bad.

It is the most powerful hurricane possible - Dominica has been hit with winds of about 260km/h (160mph).

The hurricane could produce "dangerous" storm surges of up to 3.3m (11ft) high as it moves across the Leeward Islands and the British Virgin Islands, the US National Hurricane Center has warned in its latest bulletin.

It says the surge would be accompanied by "large and destructive waves" that would inundate areas inland.

It also warns that Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands could see a storm surge, coupled with a high tide, of up to 9ft.

Jeremy Edouard, a television executive in Martinique, says there are "strong winds, strong swell, stormy showers" crossing the island, and has posted a video of the storm.

The inner core of Hurricane Maria has made landfall on the island of Dominica after strengthening into a category five storm.

Information is sketchy but the prime minister has reported having the roof torn off his house and other reports say a hospital has been badly damaged.

Meanwhile, preparations for the storm have been made on other islands in Maria's path. The French island of Martinique raised its alert status to the highest level and ordered its population to seek shelter while in Guadeloupe, authorities closed schools, businesses and government buildings and warned of severe flooding.

The US territory of Puerto Rico is also preparing for a direct hit from Maria later this week.

Maria is expected to strike the Virgin Islands in about a day's time. The US and British Virgin Islands were badly damaged by Hurricane Irma two weeks ago, and the British military is helping rebuild homes.

Brigadier John Ridge, second-in-command of the UK's Joint Task Force, said loose-lying debris after Irma could be a problem.

A resident of the US Virgin Islands has told the Â鶹ԼÅÄ how he has been preparing for the hurricane.

David Johnson said he had put shutters on all the windows in his home but he did not believe they would be strong enough against Hurricane Maria's winds.

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ has been speaking to Curtis Matthew, a journalist based in the Dominican capital, Roseau.

That is the word being used by meteorologist Guy Walton, who compares the damage to that suffered by Barbuda during Hurricane Irma two weeks ago.

We should add that he is not in Dominica, and that we have not yet seen the effects of Maria on Dominica, but reports are emerging of catastrophic damage.

Martinique - like its near-neighbour Guadeloupe - is a French territory in Maria's path. Just under 400,000 people live there.

Here is some footage filmed by people on the island in the hours before the hurricane reached. It will probably be even worse now.