[Becky Anderson, Connect The World, Cnn:] A tidiest search as Mexico mourns rescue workers keep up their search for survivors, including at this collapsed school. We are live at Mexico City with a full update for you. Also ahead this hour, a bird's eye view of a devastated land. We are going to update on hurricane Maria and the mayhem that it has left in its wake. Plus, political metaphor, United Nation North Korea lashes out at U.S. President Donald Trump. We are there with the explanation this hour. Hello, welcome. This is Connect the World, I'm Becky Anderson for you in Abu Dhabi. It is just after 7:00 in the evening here. We will begin this hour in Mexico City where the race to find survivors after Tuesday's massive earthquake has not stopped. At one school there is an intense effort still underway. Rescuers digging through a mountain of debris. The work delicate, pain staking and has been non-stop. Rescuers need to hear even the faintest sounds to try the reach survivors that calls for quiet, fists, raised in the air. CNN's Rosa Flores is at the school in Mexico City, and she joins us now live. Any success, Rosa?
[Rosa Flores, Cnn Correspondent:] There are signs of life right now, Becky. I'm whispering because if you take a look behind me, you were just showing video of those fists being raised. That is what's going on right now and they have just ask, for it to go down. So I'm going to speak normally now. But that is what we've been experiencing here today. Whenever we see those fists raised, we know those are signs of life. We know that rescuers are either listening or had heard signs of life. I want to show you around, too. Because what's happening now is they are unloading metal beams. Now, we had seen wooden beams unloaded before and carried in, but this is a new development now they are bringing metal beams. They are unloading them and taking them closer to the school. We have seen more resources arrive at daybreak here. And the flow of resources really has not survived. Now, in the past 20 or 30 minute I was able to go beyond this barricade and take a first look at some of the activity. And I can tell you that there is a lot of coordination. There are police officers lined up ready to go replace whatever other, police officers are doing to make sure, that those shifts keep rolling. I saw also rescue workers with bloodshot eyes that have been working for very long hours. I talked to one of them who had finished his shift who said that he worked for 36 hours straight, and he wasn't the only one. He was one of a group of 25 men that had been working for 36 hours to try to get to life in this pile of rubble. He was telling me a little bit about the mood as well. He said that it'been a roller coaster of emotion for the people who had been volunteering here because they feel a lot of joy and energy when they hear that someone has been saved, when their effort has saved someone, and of course the mood plummets he says whenever they hear that they were able to get to someone but that individual is dead. The death toll here at this school rose overnight by a 58-year-old woman who was pulled from the rubble unfortunately dead that raises the death toll here at the school to 26. 21 of those, children. Becky, I talked to a mother who lives in front of the school and said that parents had been communicating via what's app groups. Unfortunately, they are communicating about funerals at this hour, because 21 those bodies that were recovered were, children. Becky.
[Anderson:] Absolutely awful, isn't it? All right Rosa, we thank you very much indeed for that. The scene in one part of Mexico City. Hurricane Maria bearing down on the Dominican Republic this hour as it cuts a devastating path through the Caribbean. Forecasters say torrential rains could bring life threatening flash floods and mudslides to the country that still hasn't dried out from hurricane Irma just two weeks ago. Maria has now got the Turks and Caicos in its cross hair the storm is expected to strengthen once again as it churns through the warm waters. Puerto Rico has a very long road to recovery ahead of it after taking a direct hit from Maria yesterday. All power on the island is out and may not be completely back for four to six months. Puerto Rico's governor calls it the most devastating storm the hit the island this century if not in modern history. CNN has a team of reporters covering Maria destructive path through the Caribbean. I want to start with CNN international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh who is in Puerto Rico. Have a look at this.
[Nick Paton Walsh, Cnn Correspondent:] Puerto Rico ravaged taking its first direct hit from a category 4 hurricane in nearly a century. The governor, imposing curfew each night for Puerto Rico's 3.4 million residents. The entire island in the dark after the power grid was completely knocked out.
[Unidentified Female:] We are, looking at four to six months without electricity.
[Paton Walsh:] Roofs ripped off the buildings. Home reduced to rubble. Street swallowed by flood waters, littered with debris, gas stations under water. The island's already fragile infrastructure decimated. The governor asking President Trump to declare the island disaster zone.
[Unidentified Male:] This is the most devastating storm either in the century or quite frankly, in modern history.
[Paton Walsh:] Hurricane Maria unleashing punishing winds up to 155 miles per hour. Pelting torrential rain sideways. And breaking trees in half as residents rode out the storm some in shelters, others in stairwells.
[Unidentified Male:] I have never seen anything like this. The ferocity powering through. It is very alarming. Pulling out the trees, too.
[Paton Walsh:] This is the road of destruction re-encountered on our drive from of the east coast of the island in Pauma Del Mar where Maria made landfall. A gas leak forcing us to evacuate our hotel. The scale of devastation staggering. The highway littered with dead trees, downed electrical cables and telephone poles, propellers snapping off wind turbines. The closer we got to San Juan the more dangerous to drive to Cain also inundating the roadways as we try to pass. The storm surges of upwards of five feet turning streets into rivers and parking lots into swimming pools. The monster storm devastating much of the Caribbean. The worst of it captured in these aerial images from the island of Dominica which took a direct hit from Maria with a category five storm. At least 14 are dead, many others still missing. Officials estimating about 70 percent of the island's buildings damaged or destroyed.
[Anderson:] Nick is joining us now live from San Juan in Puerto Rico with the very latest. Your report, and the details from those who survived this storm just harrowing. And as they pick up the pieces of their lives, Nick, warnings that it could be months before the power is back on, let alone life anything like back to normal. The physical and psychological effects of this disaster are hard to imagine. How are people coping?
[Paton Walsh:] Actually, at this point bizarrely her, we have some information. I think they are coming up to us asking, how strong was that storm? Is the airport open? Because the electricity is out. And also to cell phones. The basic things you count on beyond texting your mom to make sure she survived the night OK that is out. They have to drive around to get basic information about their loved ones. Bear in mind the second one is the power is out, too. If it is going to happen four to six months, that puts a lot of people's jobs in jeopardy. A huge rethink frankly on daily life here. You see around me the devastation is pretty obvious but there are business trying to open their doors. Walgreens there still power on but the doors are boarded up. People are taking shutters down by now sort of see. This has been the first morning they have really had. But there is a sense at this stage of amazement, but I think also an acceptance of their enormity of the task ahead. We are obviously captivated by the extraordinary power and ferocity of the storm and the winds and the water and the damage done where it made landfall. We drove through the island of San Juan last night. The broader question now is the boring one, the months long of rebuilding, taking the debris out, putting the buildings back together and getting basic utilities up and running again. Becky, in a country that was on its knees before hurricane Irma struck two week ago. 70 billion in debt. Even then, about half the population below the U.S. poverty line. Not a good place, Irma comes in and that is a billion of dollars damage. People think they are lucky that they too a glancing blow from hurricane Maria comes in, the worst for 90 years, 155-mile-an-hour winds, vast amounts of water. You can't pretend that it is not an ugly year ahead. Becky?
[Anderson:] Nick Paton Walsh reporting for us from Puerto Rico. Nick showing you some of the damage on the island of Dominica. Thanks Nick. One of the poorest countries in the Caribbean. Maria's wrath there was simply catastrophic, homes shredded apart, rainforest strip there, hills eroded by landslides. The office of Dominica's Prime Minister says at least 14 people lost their lives. Water and food are scarce, and there is widespread looting as the nation goes into survival mode. CNN's Michael Holmes shows us the devastation from the skies.
[Michael Holmes, Cnn Anchor And Correspondent:] Hurricane Maria hit Dominica at full category 5 strength and showed no mercy. Plowing through villages, towns and the capital. Not a tree untouched across the island. Thousands snapped in two. No greenery left there was a spectacular rainforests here. No more. This is as close as we or anyone can get to Dominica at least for now. The airports shut down. They are hoping to open it in the hours ahead to see just how bad things are down there. But we can see from up here, this island has been hit and hit hard. We pass low, buffeted by the remnants of Maria. Our pilot unable to land before on the ground safety checks the deemed the runway safe. The damage is island-wide. Where there is a town or village, there is debris covering the landscape like confetti, houses ripped open, torn apart, roofs gone. We saw some cars moving but no people, we did see evidence of numerous landslides on this mountainous island. The usually blue-green sea rendered brown in places from the earth swept into it. Dominica has an agriculture-based economy. It is a sugarcane, banana plantation, citrus and most of that is exported. From what we can see up here, that is gone, and the loss of those sources and their income is going to be devastating for this island and its people. Of course, the immediate concern is the 73,000 residents here making sure aid gets in and quickly. Medical treatment, power, fresh water and shelter the immediate priorities. Regional officials planning for aid flights and voyages to begin in force on Thursday from the nearby island of St. Louisa, and hoping for clarity on just what had happened to island of Dominica. Michael Holmes, CNN, over the Dominica in the Caribbean.
[Anderson:] And a whole lot more on hurricane Maria ahead on this show this hour. We will get an update on the conditions in the Dominican Republic as it takes a beating from this storm. And we will check in with CNN weather center, see what can be expected in the hours ahead. Just awful. Still to come, and the Korean crisis provokes sharp debate at the U.N. What North Korea thinks about U.S. President Donald Trump fiery speech? And will he or won't he? Mr. Trump boo prides himself on being the ultimate deal maker could be about to walk away from a historic deal with Iran. Well that is coming up, after this.