<em>Hurricane Maria left Puerto Rico without clean food and water for more than 6 months, leaving people to deal with crippling emotional damage, and having to evacuate people from their homes. Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico on September 20 at high-end Category 4 status, bringing a large storm surge, very heavy rains, and wind gusts well above 100 mph (160 km/h), flattening neighborhoods and crippling the island's power grid. When Hurricane Maria struck Dominica in September 2019, more than 90 percent of the island's structures were destroyed and leaves were ripped from trees. Today, the people of Dominica are rebuilding with the knowledge that climate change could mean a future of storms like Maria.</em>
They form when wind blows over the surface of the ocean. Wind energy is transferred to the sea surface. Then, the energy is carried through the water by the waves. This gives waves the energy to erode the shore.
