In the United States, Maria became a hurricane today as it headed toward the storm-staggered eastern Caribbean with 120 kilometre per hour winds.<br/><br/>US National Hurricane Centre said storm warnings and watches went up in many of the Caribbean islands still reeling from the destructive passage of Hurricane Irma earlier this month. Maria was a Category One hurricane, the lowest on the five point Saffir-Simpson scale, located 225 kilometres northeast of Barbados.<br/><br/>It said on the forecast track, the centre of Maria will move across the Leeward Islands tonight and then over the extreme northeastern Caribbean Sea tomorrow.