Hurricane Maria leaves Puerto Rico ‘absolutely obliterated’ with 13 dead and hundreds needing rescue

Puerto Rico was on Friday battling dangerous flooding after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, with the death toll rising to 13 and authorities rescuing nearly 700 people from high waters.

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello called Maria the most devastating storm in a century after it destroyed the US territory’s electricity and telecommunications infrastructure.

“Part of the island is lacking communications so what we have are some preliminary assessments about 13 deaths at this juncture,” he told CNN early on Friday.

“We’re 24 hours post-hurricane warning and right now our efforts are to make sure we have everybody safe, that we can rescue people. Our efforts have already produced almost 700 rescues so we’re clearly focused on that.”