The Latest: Prime Minister Says At Least 15 Dead In Dominica

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Maria (all times local):

12:55 p.m.

The prime minister of Dominica says more than 15 people are dead and 20 remain missing after Hurricane Maria’s direct hit on the Caribbean island.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit cried as he spoke to a reporter on the nearby island of Antigua.

He said more than 15 people died due to the storm and that it was a miracle that the death toll was not in the hundreds.

The center of the Category 4 storm hit Dominica with massive force late Monday night and early Tuesday, destroying hundreds of homes and cutting off the mountainous island’s communication systems and shutting its airport.

Skerrit says Dominica “is going to need all the help the world has to offer.”