SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico. – Hurricane Maria touched land in Puerto Rico with peak winds of 270 miles per hour and may prove to be more catastrophic than Irma.

The National Center for Hurricanes in the United States reported this Wednesday that the potentially catastrophic hurricane Maria, of category five, arrived in Puerto Rico and threatens several Caribbean islands, which still do not recover from the passage of the devastating hurricane Irma at the beginning of September.

The eye of the hurricane crossed at dawn Vieques Island and heads towards the main island of Puerto Rico at a speed of 16 kilometers per hour; its winds reach 109 kilometers per hour.

The governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, warned there will be areas the hurricane will completely devastate, and Maria can result even more catastrophic for the archipelago than huge Hurricane Irma.