Dominica has suffered “widespread damage” from Hurricane Maria, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says.
“We have lost all that money can buy,” he said in a Facebook post.
The hurricane strengthened to a “potentially catastrophic” category five storm before making landfall on the Caribbean island.
Earlier Mr Skerrit had posted live updates as his own roof was torn off, saying he was “at the complete mercy of the hurricane”.
“My greatest fear for the morning is that we will wake to news of serious physical injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides triggered by persistent rains,” he wrote after being rescued.
Maria is moving roughly along the same track as Irma, the hurricane that devastated the region this month.
It currently has maximum sustained winds of 250km/h (155mph) and has been downgraded to a category four hurricane, but it could increase again as it moves towards Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to forecasters.
