As residents of Puerto Rico brace for Hurricane Maria -- which slammed into the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm Monday night -- Puerto Rico's governor is calling the storm "the biggest and potentially most catastrophic hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in a century.”

Maria, which has left at least one dead in the Caribbean, is expected to move over the northeastern Caribbean Sea today and is forecast to "remain an extremely dangerous category 4 or 5 hurricane" as it approaches the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico tonight and Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Maria could bring life-threatening flooding and mudslides, as well as a 6- to 9-foot storm surge, to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Dangerous flash flooding and mudslides are also possible, especially in mountainous regions in Puerto Rico.

As of 8 p.m., Maria's maximum sustained winds had increased to 175 mph and was located 60 miles southeast of St. Croix and 160 miles southeast of St. Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico.

Hurricane warnings are in effect in St. Kitts and Nevis, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic. - Read More

Maria 'potentially most catastrophic hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in a century'