Hurricane Joaquin brutally batters the Bahamas
Threat to U.S. East Coast fades as storm weakens, curves out into Atlantic
ELEUTHERA, BAHAMAS— Hurricane Joaquin destroyed houses, uprooted trees and unleashed heavy flooding as it hurled torrents of rain across the Bahamas on Friday, and the U.S. Coast Guard said it was searching for a cargo ship with 33 people aboard that went missing during the storm.
The Coast Guard said the 224-metre ship named El Faro had taken on water and was listing at 15 degrees near Crooked Island, one of the islands most battered by the hurricane. Officials said the crew includes 31 U.S. citizens and two from Poland.
“This vessel is disabled basically right near the eye of hurricane Joaquin,” said Capt. Mark Fedor. “We’re going to go and try and save lives. We’re going to push it to the operational limits as far as we can.”
Officials said they hadn’t been able to re-establish communication with the vessel, which was travelling from Jacksonville, Fla., to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Coast Guard said the crew earlier reported it had been able to contain the flooding.
Fedor said there were waves of up to nine metres in the area, and that heavy winds could have destroyed the ship’s communications equipment. The ship went missing when Joaquin was a Category 4 storm.
The hurricane has since lost strength and is a Category 3 storm.
Messages left with Florida-based TOTE Services, the ship’s owner, were not returned.
As the search continued, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Joaquin’s threat to the U.S. East Coast was fading as new forecasts showed it likely to curve out into the Atlantic while moving north and weakening in coming days.
But the slow-moving storm continued to batter parts of the Bahamas, cutting communication to several islands, most of them lightly populated.
There had been no reports of fatalities or injuries, said Capt. Stephen Russell, the director of the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency.
Officials were investigating reports of shelters being damaged and flooded, as well as two boats with a total of five people that remained missing.
Power also was knocked out to several islands, and Leslie Miller, executive chairman of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, said the company “is in no position to do much” to restore electricity.
“All the airports are flooded,” he said.
Schools, businesses and government offices were closed as the slowmoving storm roared through the island chain.
The storm was expected to continue north, with some weakening expected Saturday as if follows a projected path farther from the U.S. East Coast than originally predicted.
Rick Knabb, director of the hurricane centre, said Joaquin is expected to pass well offshore from the eastern seaboard.