13 dead, hundreds rescued after Hurricane Maria pummels Puerto Rico

San Juan : Puerto Rico was on Friday battling dangerous flooding after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, as the death toll there jumped to 13 and authorities rescued nearly 700 people from high waters.

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello called Maria the most devastating storm in a century after it destroyed the US territory's electricity and telecommunications infrastructure.

"Part of the island is lacking communications so what we have are some preliminary assessments about 13 deaths at this juncture," he told CNN early Friday. 

"We're 24 hours post-hurricane warning and right now our efforts are to make sure we have everybody safe, that we can rescue people. Our efforts have already produced almost 700 rescues so we're clearly focused on that."

The National Hurricane Center said some areas in Puerto Rico could see 40 inches (more than a meter) of rain from Maria, and Rossello warned of dangerous mudslides brought on by the deluge.

"We have a lot of flooding, we have reports of complete devastation of vulnerable housing. Of course it's still raining over here."

Maria was blamed for at least 33 deaths, including 15 in Dominica, three in Haiti and two in Guadeloupe.

"Puerto Rico is absolutely obliterated," US President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday after declaring the territory of 3.4 million people a disaster area, a move that will free up emergency relief funding.

"Puerto Rico is in a very, very, very tough shape," he said.