Dorian taunts coast after merciless blow to Bahamas
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — After mauling t he northern Bahamas for more than 24 hours, Hurricane Dorian weakened slightly to a Category 4 storm Monday with merciless 145 mph winds near its eye, still following a slow and uncertain track toward the East Coast.
Millions of residents and tourists, from southern Florida to the beach islands in North Carolina, began evacuating on what is normally one of the busiest days of the year along the Atlantic coast. Interstates converted to one way inland, while legions of utility trucks and emergency responders mobilized to prepare for the worst. Airports, schools and even liquor stores along some Florida beaches are shut down.
At least five people are dead in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said, while people in nearby Great Bahama island were in serious distress. Few other details of losses had trickled in as of Monday, officials said they received a “tremendous” number of calls from people in flooded homes.
“We are in the midst of a historic tragedy,” Minnis said.
The fate of the southeastern U.S. coast remained with the intervention of a weak upper level low pressure system over the Eastern U.S. that forecasters are still confident will nudge a nearly stalled Dorian away from Florida. It could be close — the eye could track as few as 30 miles from Cape Canaveral, and a landfall remains possible as far north as the Outer Banks in North Carolina.
On Monday, Dorian was crawling over Grand Bahama, a devastating blow to the lowlying islands that endured incredible damage into a second day. Its blustery outer fringes were already ruffling Palm Beach County's coast as tropical storm-force winds stretch up to 140 miles from the core. Hurricane- force winds extended 45 miles from Dorian's center.
Dorian may “move dangerously close to the Florida east coast” into Tuesday before hugging the Georgia and South Carolina coasts on Wednesday night and Thursday.
“The timing of the northwest turn is very critical in determining how close Dorian will get to the Florida peninsula on Tuesday and Wednesday,” said senior hurricane specialist John Cangialosi.
And areas outside the cone will feel still feel Dorian's wrath with storm surge and 6 to 15 inches of rain along t he coasts of f our states. President Donald Trump has approved emergency declarations for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief.
Georgia's governor issued a mandatory evacuation for
people in six coastal counties east of Interstate 95, which could feel the brunt of an offshore Category 3 storm Wednesday. Interstate 16 will convert to one-way at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
More than 800,000 people in all coastal communities of South Carolina were ordered to evacuate on Monday.
Evacuations are in place in vulnerable coastal areas of Florida from West Palm Beach to Jacksonville and northeastern Florida. Seven hospitals began moving patients inland, as have 72 nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
A storm surge warning is in effect for Florida's Lantana through the Treasure Coast. Surge experts are expecting the coast to be chewed by lashing waves and between 3 and 6 feet of pounding water on top of them.
Images from the northern Bahamas show complete devastation with storm surge washing over the islands up to 20 feet deep, cars tossed like toys and roofs pried from homes. Gus ts continued Monday up to 190 mph before slightly weakening.
The Bahamas Press reported Monday that Grand Bahama International Airport was under 5 feet of water and that Dorian has taken at least one life — an 8-year-old boy. There are likely more.
“The concern is nobody knows how many people died, and they feel when the water subsides some bodies will be washed out to sea,” the Bahamas Press quoted an unnamed source from Abaco as saying.
Dorian was the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the Bahamas when it hit with 185-mph winds, according to Colorado State University researcher Phil Klotzbach. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was the second strongest with 160-mph winds.