Hurricane Maria nearing St. Croix in U.S. Virgin Islands - NHC

(Reuters) - The eye of Hurricane Maria will move near or over St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands over the next couple of hours and cross Puerto Rico on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.

The category five hurricane, the strongest level on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale, was about 30 miles (45 km) south-southeast of St. Croix with maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour (280 km per hour), the NHC said.