there after the storm tore into dominica with a full veracity. it was a cat 5 hurricane when it hit. michael holmes takes us on a journey to survey the jaw-dropping devastation. >> reporter: hurricane maria hit dominica at full category 5 strength and showed no mercy plowing through villages and the towns and the capital. not a tree untouched across the islands. thousands snapped in two. no greenery left. there was spectacular rain forests here, no more. this is as close as we or anyone can get to dominica for now. the airport is shut down. hoping to open it in the hours ahead to see how bad things are down there. we can see from up here, this island has been hit and hit hard. we pass. our pilot unable to land before on the ground safety checks had deemed the runway safety safe.