Question: Where did Hurricane Maria hit the territory suggested for addition to the United States?

full_context: Document 1: 51st state: In November 2012, a referendum resulted in 54 percent of respondents voting to reject the current status under the territorial clause of the U.S. Constitution, while a second question resulted in 61 percent of voters identifying statehood as the preferred alternative to the current territorial status. The 2012 referendum was by far the most successful referendum for statehood advocates and support for statehood has risen in each successive popular referendum. However, more than one in four voters abstained from answering the question on the preferred alternative status. Statehood opponents have argued that the statehood option garnered only 45 percent of the votes if abstentions are included. If abstentions are considered, the result of the referendum is much closer to 44 percent for statehood, a number that falls under the 50 percent majority mark.
Document 2: Hurricane Charley: After crossing Cuba near Menelao Mora, Hurricane Charley accelerated to the north - northeast, toward the southwest coast of Florida in response to the approach of an unseasonal mid-tropospheric trough. Charley passed over the Dry Tortugas at 1200 UTC on August 13, with maximum winds of about 110 mph (180 km / h). The strike occurred only 22 hours after Tropical Storm Bonnie made landfall on St. Vincent Island, marking the first time two tropical cyclones hit the same state within a 24 - hour period. Then Charley rapidly intensified, strengthening from a 110 mph (180 km / h) hurricane with a minimum central barometric pressure of 965 mbar (hPa; 28.50 inHg) to a 145 mph (233 km / h) hurricane with a pressure of 947 mbar (hPa; 27.96 inHg) in just three hours. It continued to strengthen as it turned more to the northeast, and made landfall near the island of Cayo Costa, Florida as a 150 mph (240 km / h) Category 4 hurricane with a pressure of 941 mbar (hPa; 27.79 inHg) at approximately 1945 UTC on August 13. An hour later, the hurricane struck Punta Gorda as a 145 mph (233 km / h) storm and then passed up through Port Charlotte. However, the eye had shrunk before landfall, limiting the most powerful winds to an area within 7 mi (11 km) of the center.
Document 3: 51st state: The Washington Post, The New York Times and the Boston Herald have published opinion pieces expressing support for the statehood of Puerto Rico. On November 8, 2012, Washington, D.C. newspaper The Hill published an article saying that Congress will likely ignore the results of the referendum due to the circumstances behind the votes. and U.S. Congressman Luis Gutiérrez U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, both of Puerto Rican ancestry, agreed with the The Hill 's statements. Shortly after the results were published Puerto Rico-born U.S. Congressman José Enrique Serrano commented "I was particularly impressed with the outcome of the 'status' referendum in Puerto Rico. A majority of those voting signaled the desire to change the current territorial status. In a second question an even larger majority asked to become a state. This is an earthquake in Puerto Rican politics. It will demand the attention of Congress, and a definitive answer to the Puerto Rican request for change. This is a history-making moment where voters asked to move forward."
Document 4: Statehood movement in Puerto Rico: The statehood movement in Puerto Rico aims to make Puerto Rico a state of the United States. Five referenda have been held on the topic, most recently in 2017. The population of Puerto Rico as of 2015 was over 3 million people and larger than 21 states.
Document 5: 51st state: Puerto Rico has been discussed as a potential 51st state of the United States. In a 2012 status referendum a majority of voters, 54%, expressed dissatisfaction with the current political relationship. In a separate question, 61% of voters supported statehood (excluding the 26% of voters who left this question blank). On December 11, 2012, Puerto Rico's legislature resolved to request that the President and the U.S. Congress act on the results, end the current form of territorial status and begin the process of admitting Puerto Rico to the Union as a state.
Document 6: 51st state: Puerto Rico is designated in its constitution as the "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico". The Constitution of Puerto Rico which became effective in 1952 adopted the name of Estado Libre Asociado (literally translated as "Free Associated State"), officially translated into English as Commonwealth, for its body politic. The island is under the jurisdiction of the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which has led to doubts about the finality of the Commonwealth status for Puerto Rico. In addition, all people born in Puerto Rico become citizens of the U.S. at birth (under provisions of the Jones–Shafroth Act in 1917), but citizens residing in Puerto Rico cannot vote for president nor for full members of either house of Congress. Statehood would grant island residents full voting rights at the Federal level. The Puerto Rico Democracy Act (H.R. 2499) was approved on April 29, 2010, by the United States House of Representatives 223–169, but was not approved by the Senate before the end of the 111th Congress. It would have provided for a federally sanctioned self-determination process for the people of Puerto Rico. This act would provide for referendums to be held in Puerto Rico to determine the island's ultimate political status. It had also been introduced in 2007.
Document 7: Hurricane Maria: The storm made landfall on Puerto Rico on Wednesday, September 20 as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 155 mph. A sustained wind of 64 mph (103 km / h) with a gust to 113 mph (182 km / h) was reported in San Juan, Puerto Rico, immediately prior to the hurricane making landfall on the island. After landfall, wind gusts of 109 mph (175 km / h) were reported at Yabucoa Harbor and 118 mph (190 km / h) at Camp Santiago. In addition, very heavy rainfall occurred throughout the territory, peaking at 37.9 in (962.7 mm) in Caguas. Widespread flooding affected San Juan, waist - deep in some areas, and numerous structures lost their roof. The coastal La Perla neighborhood of San Juan was largely destroyed. Cataño saw extensive damage, with the Juana Matos neighborhood estimated to be 80 percent destroyed. The primary airport in San Juan, the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, was slated to reopen on September 22.
Document 8: Hurricane Maria: Hurricane Maria was regarded as the worst natural disaster on record in Dominica and Puerto Rico. The tenth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record and the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide of 2017, Maria was the thirteenth named storm, eighth consecutive hurricane, fourth major hurricane, second Category 5 hurricane, and the deadliest storm of the hyperactive 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. At its peak, the hurricane caused catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across the northeastern Caribbean, compounding recovery efforts in the areas of the Leeward Islands already struck by Hurricane Irma. Maria was the third consecutive major hurricane to threaten the Leeward Islands in two weeks, after Irma made landfall in several of the islands two weeks prior and Hurricane Jose passed dangerously close, bringing tropical storm force winds to Barbuda.
Document 9: Hurricane Maria: Originating from a tropical wave, Maria became a tropical storm on September 16, east of the Lesser Antilles. Highly favorable environmental conditions allowed the storm to undergo explosive intensification as it approached the island arc. The hurricane reached Category 5 strength on September 18 just before making landfall on Dominica, becoming the first Category 5 hurricane on record to strike the island. After weakening slightly due to crossing Dominica, Maria achieved its peak intensity over the eastern Caribbean with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km / h) and a pressure of 908 mbar (hPa; 26.81 inHg), making it the tenth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record. On September 20, an eyewall replacement cycle took place, weakening Maria to a high - end Category 4 hurricane by the time it struck Puerto Rico. Interaction with land further weakened the hurricane, though it regained some strength as it moved northeast of The Bahamas. Moving slowly to the north, Maria gradually degraded and weakened to a tropical storm on September 28. Embedded in the westerlies, Maria accelerated toward the east and later east - northeast over the open Atlantic, becoming extratropical on September 30 and dissipating by October 3.
Document 10: Hurricane Maria: The hurricane made its closest approach to St. Croix around 05: 00 UTC on September 20, passing within 20 mi (30 km) of the island; the storm's outer eyewall lashed the island while the more violent inner eye remained offshore. Hours later, around 08: 00 UTC, the outer eyewall struck Vieques, an island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. By this time, the outer eye became dominant as the inner one decayed, and the eyewall replacement cycle caused Maria to weaken to Category 4 strength. Maria made landfall just south of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, around 10: 15 UTC with sustained winds of 155 mph (250 km / h), making it the strongest to hit the island since the 1928 San Felipe Segundo hurricane. Maria maintained a general west - northwest course across Puerto Rico, emerging over the Atlantic Ocean shortly before 18: 00 UTC. Interaction with the mountainous terrain resulted in substantial weakening; sustained winds fell to 110 mph (175 km / h) and the central pressure rose to 957 mbars (hPa; 28.26 inHg). With favorable environmental conditions, Maria steadily reorganized as it moved away from Puerto Rico. A large eye, 45 mi (75 km) wide, developed with deep convection blossoming around it. Early on September 21, the system regained Category 3 intensity.
Document 11: Hurricane Sandy: After Sandy exited Cuba, the structure became disorganized, and it turned to the north - northwest over the Bahamas. By October 27, Sandy was no longer fully tropical, and despite strong shear, it maintained convection due to influence from an approaching trough; the same trough turned the hurricane to the northeast. After briefly weakening to a tropical storm, Sandy re-intensified into a hurricane, and on October 28 an eye began redeveloping. The storm moved around an upper - level low over the eastern United States and also to the southwest of a ridge over Atlantic Canada, turning it to the northwest. Sandy briefly re-intensified to Category 2 intensity on the morning of October 29, around which time it had a wind diameter of over 1,150 miles (1,850 km), and a central pressure of 943 mb, which set records for many cities across the Northeastern United States for the lowest pressures ever observed. The convection diminished while the hurricane accelerated toward the New Jersey coast, and the hurricane was no longer tropical by 2100 UTC on October 29. About 2 / hours later, Sandy made landfall near Brigantine, New Jersey, with winds of 80 mph (130 km / h). During the next four days, Sandy's remnants drifted northward and then northeastward over Ontario, before merging with another low pressure area over Eastern Canada on November 2.
Document 12: Hurricane Maria: Hurricane Maria was regarded as the worst natural disaster on record in Dominica and Puerto Rico, and caused catastrophic damage and triggered a major humanitarian crisis in the latter. The tenth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record and the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide thus far in 2017, Maria was the thirteenth named storm, eighth consecutive hurricane, fourth major hurricane, second Category 5 hurricane, and the deadliest storm of the hyperactive 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. At its peak, the hurricane caused catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across the northeastern Caribbean, compounding recovery efforts in the areas of the Leeward Islands already struck by Hurricane Irma just two weeks prior. Maria was the third consecutive major hurricane to threaten the Leeward Islands in two weeks, after Irma made landfall in several of the islands two weeks prior and Hurricane Jose passed dangerously close, bringing tropical storm force winds to Barbuda.
Document 13: 51st state: Several days after the referendum, the Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, Governor Luis Fortuño, and Governor-elect Alejandro García Padilla wrote separate letters to the President of the United States Barack Obama addressing the results of the voting. Pierluisi urged Obama to begin legislation in favor of the statehood of Puerto Rico, in light of its win in the referendum. Fortuño urged him to move the process forward. García Padilla asked him to reject the results because of their ambiguity. The White House stance related to the November 2012 plebiscite was that the results were clear, the people of Puerto Rico want the issue of status resolved, and a majority chose statehood in the second question. Former White House director of Hispanic media stated, "Now it is time for Congress to act and the administration will work with them on that effort, so that the people of Puerto Rico can determine their own future."
Document 14: Puerto Rico: Puerto Ricans are by law citizens of the United States and may move freely between the island and the mainland. As it is not a state, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the United States Congress, which governs the territory with full jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. However, Puerto Rico does have one non-voting member of the House called a Resident Commissioner. As residents of a U.S. territory, American citizens in Puerto Rico are disenfranchised at the national level and do not vote for president and vice president of the United States, and do not pay federal income tax on Puerto Rican income. Like other territories and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico does not have U.S. senators. Congress approved a local constitution in 1952, allowing U.S. citizens on the territory to elect a governor. A 2012 referendum showed a majority (54% of those who voted) disagreed with ``the present form of territorial status ''. A second question asking about a new model, had full statehood the preferred option among those who voted for a change of status, although a significant number of people did not answer the second question of the referendum. A fifth referendum was held on June 11, 2017, with`` Statehood'' and ``Independence / Free Association ''initially as the only available choices. At the recommendation of the Department of Justice, an option for the`` current territorial status'' was added. The referendum showed an overwhelming support for statehood, with 97.18% voting for it, although the voter turnout had a historically low figure of only 22.99% of the registered voters casting their ballots.
Document 15: 51st state: On May 15, 2013, Resident Commissioner Pierluisi introduced H.R. 2000 to Congress to "set forth the process for Puerto Rico to be admitted as a state of the Union," asking for Congress to vote on ratifying Puerto Rico as the 51st state. On February 12, 2014, Senator Martin Heinrich introduced a bill in the US Senate. The bill would require a binding referendum to be held in Puerto Rico asking whether the territory wants to be admitted as a state. In the event of a yes vote, the president would be asked to submit legislation to Congress to admit Puerto Rico as a state.
ground_truth: just south of Yabucoa
sub_queries: What territory has been suggested as a new addition to the United States? Answer: Puerto Rico
where did the hurricane maria hit Puerto Rico Answer: just south of Yabucoa