Hurricane Maria  is now a Category 5 storm, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Monday evening. 

Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm, lashed the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico's northeast coast Wednesday with heavy rain and historic, 185-mph winds as Irma roared through Caribbean islands on its way to a possible devastating hit on Florida. 

The most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history made its first landfall, over the islands of the northeast Caribbean early Wednesday, churning along a path pointing to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before possibly heading for Florida over the weekend.