Which hurricane in 2017 caused widespread destruction in Puerto Rico?

The hurricane that caused widespread destruction in Puerto Rico in 2017 was Hurricane Maria. Maria struck the island on September 20, 2017, after reaching Category 5 intensity over the Atlantic and weakening to a high-end Category 4 before landfall.

Maria brought extreme winds, torrential rainfall and a major storm surge. It devastated communities across Puerto Rico, damaged or destroyed homes, blocked roads and crippled the island’s electrical grid. The disaster became a prolonged humanitarian crisis because power, communications, clean water and medical services remained disrupted for months in many areas.

Maria was one of the strongest storms to affect Puerto Rico in modern history and caused thousands of deaths when direct and indirect fatalities were counted. Later assessments estimated about 2,982 deaths and roughly $90 billion in damage, though fatality estimates and accounting methods have varied. Irma and Harvey also struck the Caribbean and the United States in 2017, but Maria is the storm specifically associated with Puerto Rico’s island-wide catastrophe.