Hurricane maria has strengthened to a category 5 storm. it s taking aim at puerto rico after battering the caribbean island of dominica, packing 160-mile-per-hour winds at this moment. puerto rico s governor fears the impact could be, quote, catastrophic. we are also following several others, several other big stories, including a cnn exclusive. we have learned that the u.s. government wiretapped former trump campaign chair paul manafort, amid concerns he was communicating with russian operatives, trying to influence the election. all this going on as president trump gets set to give his first address to the united nations general assembly. a speech expected to be deeply philosophical. that s what the white house tells us. it will include warnings to north korea and iran. let s start with meteorologist chad myers, tracking hurricane maria. chad? the storm moved right over dominica overnight as a category 5 hurricane. and even the southern tip of guadalupe had the northern eyewall,
Live look here inside the room at the united nations where president trump is set to meet with u.n. secretary general antonio gutierrez any moment now. this coming on the heels of the president s first major speech at the united nations. when the president and the secretary general make their way and start speaking we ll take you there live. meanwhile another potentially catastrophic hurricane heading the caribbean while remnants of the hurricane jose send dangerous rip currents along the east coast. hurricane maria crippled the caribbean island of dominica last night, as the strongest hurricane on record to ever make land fall there. now that storm is on track to pummel the virgin islands and puerto rico. in fact the islands public safety commissioner warning people to, quote, get out now or die.
Ahead. it is now past dominica, as chad said. guadalupe, said everybody stay indoors. preservation of life is the important thing at the moment. john, back to you. michael holmes, can t believe we re looking at these pictures again of another storm battering the same basic area. state of emergency is in effect in puerto rico. the island gearing up for a direct hit by the category 5 hurricane. cnn s nick valencia live in san juan with the latest. nick? reporter: good morning, john. this is expected to be a monster storm. people here on the island territory of puerto rico are taking the warnings very seriously. ominous warnings from officials. we want to give you the sense of what the current conditions are here. on one of the beaches of this beautiful territory. those waters, those waves are starting to swell up. earlier this morning, those skies were relatively clear. blue skies. you see cloud formations.
Erika weakened dumping rain over the dominican republic. it destroyed hundreds of homes on the caribbean island of dominica. it is expected to reach florida on monday. it is unclear how strong it will be by then. the largest wildfire ever recorded in washington state is getting bigger. the flames are spreading another 22 square miles bringing the total to more than 470 square miles. the fire is just 12% contained. three firefighters have died and dozens of homes have been destroyed. firefighters are worried about the high winds which could make the blaze more difficult to fight. former president george w. bush visiting louisiana and mississippi on friday. 10 years after hurricane katrina s devastation. they attended an event to honor police and firefighters.
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