Hurricane Maria

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How to prepare for a hurricane

Why flash floods are so dangerous

What you should know about hurricanes

How are hurricanes named?

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Citizens rush to rescue strangers

Story highlights Maria's first landfall is expected at 8 p.m. on the Leeward Islands Puerto Rico will likely get its first Category 4 landfall in 85 years

(CNN)As feared, Hurricane Maria rapidly strengthened Monday morning as it took aim at Puerto Rico and islands left in ruins by Hurricane Irma.

In just three hours, Maria's maximum sustained winds jumped from 90 mph to 110 mph (175 kilometers per hour), theNational Hurricane Center said.

Maria's first landfall is expected around 8 p.m. ET in the northeast Caribbean's Leeward Islands -- specifically Dominica and Guadeloupe.

Hurricane Maria is expected to keep strenghening as it heads toward the Caribbean.

And for the first time in 85 years, Puerto Rico is expected to suffer a direct landfall from a Category 4 hurricane. That will likely happen Wednesday.

"It's time to wrap up your preparations now, Puerto Rico," CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.

Track the storm here

Scrambling in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico sheltered many of the evacuees who fled Hurricane Irma's wrath in other Caribbean islands. Now those evacuees and native Puerto Ricans are scrambling to prepare for a direct hit from Maria.

Issa Alexander barely survived Irma when that hurricane shredded his family's home in the British Virgin Islands. He evacuated to San Juan, Puerto Rico -- only to find himself bracing for another catastrophic hurricane.

Hurricane Irma devasted much of the British Virigin Islands, which are now bracing for Hurricane Maria.

"I'm hoping that Maria doesn't come, but I don't know," said Alexander, 22.

He's terrified for relatives still in the British Virgin Islands -- especially because the lines of communication are still down.

"I don't even know if they know that it (Maria) is coming," Alexander said. "I can only hope that the same spirit that everybody has -- the same God that helped everybody to survive is still looking over them."

What to expect from Maria

Maria was closing in on the Leeward Islands on Monday morning, about 85 miles (135 kilometers) east of Martinique and 120 miles away from Dominica. At 8 a.m. ET, it was headed toward the islands at 12 mph.

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Other Leeward Islands under hurricane warnings include St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat and Martinique, as well as St. Lucia.

"A dangerous storm surge accompanied by large and destructive waves will raise water levels by as much as 5 to 7 feet above normal tide levels near where the center of Maria moves across the Leeward Islands," the National Hurricane Center said.

Up to 12 inches of rain -- and even 20 inches in some areas -- is expected to deluge the central and southern Leeward Islands through Wednesday night, the NHC said. Those islands include Puerto Rico and the US and British Virgin Islands.

"Rainfall on all of these islands could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," it said.

Hurricane Jose

Another hurricane, the Category 1 storm Jose, is also churning in the Atlantic.

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While forecasters don't anticipate Jose making landfall in the US, it's still expected to cause "dangerous surf and rip currents" along the East Coast in the next few days, the hurricane center said.

On Monday morning, Hurricane Jose was about 270 miles east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and was moving north at 9 mph.

"Jose is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 3 to 5 inches over eastern Long Island, southeast Connecticut, southern Rhode Island, and southeast Massachusetts, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, through Wednesday," the National Hurricane Center said.

Jose is expected to weaken in the next few days, but will likely remain a hurricane through Tuesday.

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