Dorian cuts path of ‘extreme destruction’
At least 5 die in Bahamas, as slow-moving storm hinders relief efforts
Several people are dead in the Bahamas as hurricane bears down on the islands,
Hurricane Dorian continued its unrelenting assault on the Grand Bahama and Abaco islands Monday night, causing “extreme destruction” as storm surges rose 3.6 to 5.5 metres above normal tide levels. At least five people have died.
In Florida, forecasters warned that hurricane conditions were expected across the state and the southeastern coast of the United States.
Prime Minister Hubert Minnis of the Bahamas said the Royal Bahamas police force confirmed the deaths late Monday. Details about how the people died were not available.
“We are in the midst of a historic tragedy,” Minnis said Monday night. “Our focus is search, rescue and recovery.”
Minnis said the videos of vast destruction in the country were heartbreaking. “Many homes, businesses and other buildings have been completed or partially destroyed. Downtown Grand Bahama is under three feet of water, including the ground floor of its hospital.”
Because of the storm’s stubborn refusal to move past the Bahamas, officials with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, a relief group based in Barbados, may not be able to visit the islands until Wednesday afternoon.
Forecasters said the hurricane continued to creep west at just 1.5 km/h, but it was expected to turn slightly north overnight. Its winds swirled at 233 km/h and gusts rose to 290 km/h. After moving toward the islands over the weekend, it practically came to a halt Monday and moved only 22 kilometres between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., when it was still about 170 kilometres off the coast of Florida.
The storm was expected to continue drubbing the islands, with a combined population of about 77,000, the majority of whom live on Grand Bahama, through the night, forecasters said, before resuming its course toward the Atlantic coast.
“We really need to get this thing off of the Bahamas and moving northward,” said Ken Graham, the director of the National Hurricane Centre.
Island water systems were expected to be compromised, so aid workers planned to send pumps and a two-week supply of food because food warehouses were most likely flooded.
Ronald Jackson, the executive director of the Caribbean disaster agency, said children made up about 15 per cent of the islands’ population. Fewer than 10 per cent are elderly. Abaco is home to enclaves of vulnerable Haitian migrants, he said.
Dozens of worried families posted pleas for information about their loved ones on social media, and videos showed water rising around houses and devastated scenes of decimated homes, with roofs sheared from buildings and insulation strewn about the floor.
A hurricane warning was extended to about 290 kilometres of the Florida coast Monday, and tropical-storm-force winds blew on a South Florida beach.
The much-monitored cone of uncertainty overlapped with nearly all of the state’s central and northern coast, meaning the eye could move over the eastern edge of the state during the next two days.
Forecasters emphasized that even a minor diversion from Dorian’s predicted route could bring the storm onto the coast.
At 5 p.m., forecasters said Dorian would move “dangerously close” to the Florida coast, beginning late Tuesday and continuing through Wednesday evening. Then, it is expected to continue “dangerously close” to the Georgia and South Carolina coasts late Wednesday.