Dominica knocked to its knees by Hurricane Maria’s might

Over Dominica, in the Caribbean (CNN)Hurricane Maria’s first victim was Dominica, and it was clear from a flight Wednesday over the island nation that the storm showed absolutely no mercy.

At least 15 people are dead after the hurricane barreled through the island, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said.

Those who made it through the storm have “gone into survival mode,” Charles Jong, a spokesman for Dominica prime minister’s office, told CNN.

A CNN crew that flew over the scarred landscape witnessed heartbreaking devastation.

This Caribbean island of 73,000 residents is — or was — a place of lush greenery, punctuated by waterfalls and rain forests. But nearly two days after Maria made landfall, an aerial survey showed that nearly every tree was touched — thousands snapped and strewn across the landscape — and the island was stripped of vegetation.

-BBC News-