here on bbc news. you're watching bbc news. let's get more now on hurricane maria which is sweeping through the caribbean — just a fortnight after hurricane irma devastated some of the islands. overnight the latest category 5 storm hit the island of dominica with winds of 160 miles per hour. it's now heading towards guadelope — where there's a communications blackout — and also the british virgin islands. some of the islands in the path of hurricane maria have barely started cleaning—up after the devastation wreaked by hurricane irma. our correspondentjeremy cooke is in the british virgin islands — which could be hit hard again within the next 12 hours. these islands are bracing for a second parcel hurricane injust these islands are bracing for a second parcel hurricane in just two weeks. that was when hurricane emma came through causing all of this devastation and since then it has

been a race against time to make things secure and safe before hurricane maria arrives and frankly a race against time which simply could not be one such is the extent of the damage. fear now is any piece of the damage. fear now is any piece of this debris, the timber, roof sheets, household items, could become potentially deadly ammunition for hurricane maria as it is swirled around in some 100 miles an hour plus. people are hunkered down in their homes, hoping for the best but they know the hours ahead are going to be extremely difficult. really not much to do now but to wait for the storm to come. jamie cook, bbc news. meanwhile the uk task force in the caribbean is busy helping with the clear—up effort following hurricane irma. brigadierjohn ridge is the commander of the joint task force, currently in barbados. he explained to my colleague ben brown, just how concerned he was about hurricane maria repeating damage already seen in places like the british virgin islands. the problem we have in the british

virgin islands is the vegetation was all stripped by irma and many of the drainage ditches blocked. that means the heavy rain which we expect to get probably in the next 2a, 48 hours, get probably in the next 24, 48 hours, will create some quite significant flooding problems and combined with what will be a storm surge as well, that is my greatest concern. we have delivered as much shelters we can but many people still without really good quality shelter and in addition there is clearly a concern about sanitation and health. 50 very concerning indeed. and health. so very concerning indeed. you mentioned some of the help you've been able to give, just give us more detail about that, what kind of efforts you have been making to help those who have been already hit by the last hurricane, irma. straight after irma we deployed onto the ground very quickly, we were

able to stabilise what was a security problem, there had been some looting which we were able to stabilise quickly withdrawn patrolling. since then we have been closely coordinating efforts with the foreign and commonwealth office and with the local government agencies on the british virgin islands. by doing that we've been able to assist in terms of providing support to the distribution of aid and one of our major focuses is the distribution of shelter kits. but also food and water. the other thing we managed to do using our specialist engineers was to help get some of the infrastructure up and running especially things like generators and water production plants. what are continuing needs, what else to people need in the wake of the disruption? all those things that we have been starting ready will continue, the most important thing we will do after hurricane maria has been through is to carry

out a further needs assessment to make sure we are delivering against the highest priorities. we have got the highest priorities. we have got the forces prepositioned and we also will hunker down then, we have got some eight which we are configuring as of the hurricane has passed through based on the needs assessment that we will carry out a rigidly we will be able to respond immediately to assist in any way we can. we're driven by the requirements that are explained to us requirements that are explained to us by the local government processes there. so where will you be offering help in the wake of this latest hurricane maria 7 help in the wake of this latest hurricane maria? our first priority again will be shelter and i suspect some of the shelters that had been damaged will inevitably be damaged during maria and will need to be replaced. so we will deliver a shelter as a priority and my understanding having spoken to the people on the ground especially local governors is that they're able to up quite a lot of food beforehand

and so supermarkets have been opened my sense there will not be an immediate need for food and water but we will closely track that to make sure that does not develop. and also we concentrate on hygiene and making sure we do not let disease spread based on problems with flooding. as you can imagine heavy flooding. as you can imagine heavy flooding tends to flood the sewers and we end up in a dangerous situation. you will be aware that at the beginning of the destruction caused by hurricane irma there was criticism of the british aid effort with people think it was not quick enough. people in the caribbean saying it could have been a faster response. you're not a politician but do you feel that the response has been speedy enough? yes, i tracked this closely as the joint force commander and we were closely tracking irma. we had forces in the area specifically positioned to help out in these situations and she came

into anguilla immediately after irma pass. and got the wrong way up and running and delivered immediate aid. sol running and delivered immediate aid. so i would say my personal view is i think will respond as quickly as possible. we were deploying on the thursday evening, late afternoon, early evening and on a plane friday morning. so for the armed forces i would have to save the speed of response, i would refute the fact that we did not do everything as quickly as we could. time for a look at the weather with nick miller. the latest news on hurricane maria just ahead but first the uk and it was a fine day across a large part of the uk with some good sunny spells around. you can see on the satellite picture the extent of the sunshine but also things changing from the atlantic as we have another

weather system of union which will gradually bring in more clout across western parts of a night. some outbreaks of rain in northern ireland and western parts of scotland. eastern areas clear for longest and temperatures just dipping into single figures but for most of us tomorrow morning, a much milderfield to things. most of us tomorrow morning, a much milder field to things. temperatures as you can see widely into double figures. a few spots in the east madejust be in single figures. a few spots in the east made just be in single figures and perhaps with the odd patch of mist and fog. so this weather system is dragging in some milder air, so a different feel. but we're seeing but weather front moving in, different feel. but we're seeing but weatherfront moving in, so different feel. but we're seeing but weather front moving in, so for northern ireland and west of scotla nd northern ireland and west of scotland outbreaks of rain and in east of scotland rather more patchy with dry spell. the rain just encroaching into western counties of

wales during the afternoon. for much of east wales and west of england, staying dry and feeling quite warm. but of course you will feel no benefit from that way you have the rain in northern ireland and scotland. some of that crossing a little bit further east. but most of it stuck out as we start thursday through south west england, white in places and slowly moving east during the day. ahead of that quite warm and behind it turning colder with some showers. hurricane maria as you can see on the satellite, a potentially catastrophic major hurricane continued to head north west and that is how it is described for the virgin islands again and puerto rico as it moves right across during wednesday and after that it comes during wednesday and after that it co m es close during wednesday and after that it comes close to the dominican republic and then back towards turks and caicos islands. you are watching beyond 100 days,

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