US braces for Dorian’s deadly force

HURRICANE Dorian could unleash its deadly force on US coastal areas even though it is not expected to make landfall in Florida, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said yesterday, as the nearly stationary storm kept pounding the Bahamas.

“Life-threatening storm surges and dangerous hurricane-force winds are expected in parts of Florida’s east coast and the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina, regardless of the track of Dorian’s centre,” the NHC said.

On its slow north-eastern track, Dorian was forecast to skirt Florida coast late yesterday and today, before moving up near the US east coast.

The edge of Dorian was already lashing south-east Florida with severe winds yesterday. And storm-surge warnings were posted for several areas.

Dorian’s centre was about 55km north of Freeport, the main city on Grand Bahama, and 100km from West Palm Beach, Florida. Its maximum sustained winds were recorded at 195km per hour, the NHC said in its update.

Grand Bahama Island has suffered the brunt of the massive storm for more than 24 hours.

More than 13 000 houses have been extensively damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Dorian on the northern islands of the Bahamas, Red Cross spokesperson Matthew Cochrane said in Geneva.

This means that about 45% of homes on Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands were affected, Cochrane said at a media briefing.

Some 60 200 people on Grand Bahama and Abaco may require food aid, according to preliminary estimates, UN World Food Programme spokesperson Herve Verhoosel said.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis reported on Monday that at least five people had died in the Bahamas from the storm, saying the country was “in the midst of a historic tragedy”.

Search-and-rescue efforts were hampered on Monday, but Minnis said they would begin in earnest at first light yesterday.

Emergency responders have said that the full scale of the devastation would not be known until Dorian finally moves away from the Atlantic Ocean archipelago.

The hurricane unleashed massive flooding and fierce winds that tore down power lines and ripped roofs off homes. |