USCG closes ports in Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands because of Hurricane Maria
The US Coast Guard (USCG) on Tuesday morning set port condition Zulu for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands because of Hurricane Maria which was a Category 5 storm on Tuesday and threatened to bring gale force winds within 24 hours.
That meant the closure of all ports in those US territories. No vessels may enter or transit within these ports without permission of the Captain of the Port of San Juan in Puerto Rico.
On Monday night Maria made landfall in Dominica causing devastation there.
These Caribbean islands are still recovering from varying degrees of damage from Hurricane Irma earlier this month.
Oil storage terminals on various of the islands were also preparing to close again for Maria, as they had done for Irma.