Hurricane Maria hits Dominican Republic

The hurricane killed at least 15 people and and left another 20 people missing.

It was a rare category-five storm when it made landfall on the Dominican Republic, damaging about 95 per cent of the roofs on the island of 73,000 people, one of the poorest in the Caribbean, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

The storm was expected to strengthen as it bore down on the Turks and Caicos islands and the Bahamas late Thursday and early Friday this week.

US President Donald Trump described Hurricane Maria as a "monster", adding: "Our hearts are with you." He issued an emergency declaration for the US territory of Puerto Rico for federal assistance to augment the territory's storm-response initiatives./.