At least five people have died in the Bahamas’ Abaco Islands as Hurricane Dorian continues to pound the area as a Category 4 storm.
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis confirmed the deaths and said people in nearby Great Bahama Island also are in serious danger with many homes and buildings damaged or destroyed. Some 13,000 houses are feared damaged or destroyed, according to the International Red Cross.
“We are in the midst of a historic tragedy,” he said.
And the danger is likely to continue as Hurricane Dorian is in no hurry to go anywhere.
As of late Monday, the storm was stalled over the Bahamas and forecasters say it continue pounding the islands with massive rainfall and powerful winds throughout the night and into Tuesday.
Dorian’s top sustained winds are at 230 kilometers per hour.
Dorian is the strongest Atlantic hurricane to strike land in 84 years and the worst ever to hit the Bahamas.
Those who are able to get through to rescuers say their homes have been destroyed, severely damaged, or are flooded up to the roofs. Most power has been knocked out. The Bahamas Power and Light utility says its office on Great Abaco was destroyed.
Forecasters say Dorian is expected to remain a Category 4 as it moves “dangerously close” to the east coast of Florida late Tuesday and Georgia and South Carolina coasts Wednesday and Thursday.
Hurricane warnings are posted from just north of Miami to the Florida-Georgia border. About one-million people from Florida into South Carolina have been ordered to evacuate.
A National Guard spokesman says there has been almost no resistance from people being told they have to get out.
“People do understand that Dorian is nothing to mess around with,” he said.
Even if Dorian does not make landfall on the Atlantic Coast, the storm’s hurricane-force winds extend 56 kilometers to the west. Towns and cities can still expect up to 25 centimeters of rain, life-threatening flash floods, and some tornadoes.
Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Jared Moskowitz says “Hurricane Dorian is the strongest storm to ever threaten the state of Florida on the east coast. No matter what path this storm takes, our state will be impacted.
Forecasters predict Dorian will remain a hurricane as it moves up the Atlantic seaboard this week. Forecast maps show the storm reaching an area off Nova Scotia, Canada by Saturday.