Havana, September 19 (RHC)-- In the Caribbean, Hurricane Maria strengthened rapidly Monday over the warm waters of the Atlantic, growing from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in a single day, threatening Puerto Rico and other islands already suffering from Hurricane Irma’s landfall earlier this month.

On Monday evening, the storm’s eye passed directly over Dominica, where Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit wrote online: "My roof is gone.  I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane.  House is flooding."  He later said he’d been rescued, but that the island had been devastated.

The storm also brought high winds and flooding to Guadeloupe, the staging ground for relief efforts for islands ravaged by Hurricane Irma earlier this month.

Maria now threatens the capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan, with a possible direct hit as a major hurricane.  The storm also prompted hurricane warnings in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, where residents scrambled to collect debris from massive damage caused by Hurricane Irma.

Officials warn that shards of metal and glass from the rubble could be turned into deadly projectiles as Hurricane Maria passes.