Power outages and flooding were reported across the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra after Dorian hit St. Thomas as a Category 1 storm.
We spoke via Skype with Dr. Matthew Brewer from the National Weather Service offices in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Dr. Brewer admits that Dorian has been a difficult storm to track.
Dorian hits Virgin Islands as Category 1 hurricane, could strengthen to Category 3 before hitting US
"It's passing to our east when just a couple of days ago it was forecast to pass to our west, and now it's passing between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands," he says.
Dr. Brewer says Dorian will not be a repeat of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico nearly two years ago, leaving parts of the island without power for nearly a year.
Still, they are expecting a lot of rain. Four to six inches of rain is in the forecast for much of the island, with some locations potentially receiving up to 10 inches before it's over.
Wednesday afternoon, we spoke with people arriving in Philadelphia from one of the remaining flights that wasn't canceled out of Puerto Rico.
Joseph Rivera from Egg Harbor City says he went to Puerto Rico to introduce his mother to her baby granddaughter.
He says he had no choice but to leave today, to get his wife and daughter out of harm's way.
"I wanted to stay. I didn't want to come back and go through it with them, but I got the little one, I got my wife over here and I got to do what I got to do," he says.
Antonio Medina says his daughter and granddaughter, who live in Philadelphia, ordered him to evacuate.
Translated from Spanish, he said, "My father, the water took him. He drowned."
"During Hurricane Maria?" asked reporter Walter Perez.
"Yes," said Medina.
Meanwhile, officials from the National Weather Service say, at this point, the people of Puerto Rico are hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.
"It's going to be impacting us for at least the next 24 hours, possibly well into Friday. But I think we'll come out of this relatively unscathed," said Dr. Brewer.