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Hurricane Dorian Reveals Its Destructive Fury as It Slams the Bahamas Stalled Over the Bahamas, Hurricane Dorian Reveals Its Devastation
(about 8 hours later)
As Hurricane Dorian churned its way over the northern Bahamas early Monday, scenes of devastation emerging from the Abaco Islands revealed the destructive fury of one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record. Hurricane Dorian stalled over the northern Bahamas on Monday, pounding it with sustained winds of up to 185 m.p.h., blinding rain and rising waters, and revealing the destructive fury of one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record.
Packing 185 mile-per-hour winds, Dorian first hit the Bahamas’ Abaco Islands on Sunday and then took aim at Grand Bahama Island as it crept slowly westward. Residents of the Abaco Islands, who endured hours of the raging storm on Sunday, struggled to take stock of the damage on Monday. Emergency responders said many thousands of homes in the Abaco Islands, in the northern Bahamas, were left damaged or destroyed. Videos showed floodwaters just below battered rooftops, submerged cars and floating debris.
Images and video from the Abaco Islands showed floodwaters swirling just below battered rooftops, submerged cars and floating debris from damaged houses. The storm, moving as slowly as one mile per hour, reached the island of Grand Bahama early on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center. It has been downgraded from a Category 5 to an “extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane,” and is expected to hover in the region for much of Monday before moving close to the Florida coast late tonight, the center said.
One resident on Great Abaco Island posted a harrowing video on Monday showing water gushing through a roadway and extensive damage inside apartments. She said the roof came off her building. “From all accounts we have received catastrophic damage,” Foreign Minister Darren Henfield told the ZNS Network, speaking from the main government building in Marsh Harbour, Abaco’s largest city. “We have reports of casualties, we have reports of bodies being seem. We cannot confirm those reports until we go out and have a look for ourselves.”
On the Abaco Islands, which endured more than a day of the hurricane’s wrath over the weekend, officials said it was too early to fully assess the damage because wind and rain still made it too dangerous to reach many of the smaller offshore islands.
One resident on the Great Abaco island posted a harrowing video on Monday showing water gushing through a roadway and extensive damage inside apartments. She said the roof came off her building.
“Please pray for us. We’re stuck right here. My baby’s only four months old,” the woman said.“Please pray for us. We’re stuck right here. My baby’s only four months old,” the woman said.
[Follow live updates on Hurricane Dorian here.][Follow live updates on Hurricane Dorian here.]
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center described Dorian, a category 5 storm with winds gusting as high as 220 m.p.h., as “catastrophic.” Mr. Henfield said that the main government building in Marsh Harbour had become a makeshift shelter because many of the churches and schools that had been assigned to provide safety during the storm had been damaged. People were also taking refuge in the public clinic of Marsh Harbour “which is packed to capacity, as I understand it.”
As it approached the Bahamas, the storm grew larger, with winds extending up to 45 miles from the center. Its core was expected to move slowly — it crawled westward at just one m.p.h. early Monday — across Grand Bahama Island throughout much of Monday. Along with the storm surge, Dorian was forecast to dump as much as two feet of rain in some areas. The International Red Cross said Monday that as many as 13,000 houses may have been severely damaged or destroyed and that flooding on the Abaco Islands is believed to have contaminated wells with saltwater.
Although it was still early to have a complete picture of the destruction, “it is clear that Hurricane Dorian has had a catastrophic impact,” said Sune Bulow, Head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ (IFRC) Emergency Operation Centre in Geneva. “We anticipate extensive shelter needs, alongside the need for short-term economic support, as well as for clean water and health assistance.”
As it approached the Bahamas, the storm grew larger, with winds extending up to 45 miles from the center. Its core was expected to move slowly — six m.p.h. — across Grand Bahama Island throughout much of Monday. Along with the storm surge, Dorian was forecast to dump as much as two feet of rain in some areas.
“These hazards will cause extreme destruction in the affected areas and will continue for several hours,” the hurricane center warned late Sunday.“These hazards will cause extreme destruction in the affected areas and will continue for several hours,” the hurricane center warned late Sunday.
In a region that prides itself on withstanding powerful storms, the Bahamas has revamped its building code and stepped up enforcement to prepare for such storms. But the combination of Dorian’s slow pace, furious wind speeds and heavy rainfall with the low-lying islands’ vulnerability to flooding raised fears of huge losses.In a region that prides itself on withstanding powerful storms, the Bahamas has revamped its building code and stepped up enforcement to prepare for such storms. But the combination of Dorian’s slow pace, furious wind speeds and heavy rainfall with the low-lying islands’ vulnerability to flooding raised fears of huge losses.
Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, who had warned that 73,000 residents and 21,000 homes could be affected, urged residents of the Grand Bahama Island on Sunday to move to safer ground in the main city of Freeport. On the Abaco Islands, parts of the main city of Marsh Harbour flooded.Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, who had warned that 73,000 residents and 21,000 homes could be affected, urged residents of the Grand Bahama Island on Sunday to move to safer ground in the main city of Freeport. On the Abaco Islands, parts of the main city of Marsh Harbour flooded.
“As a physician, I have been trained to withstand many things — but never anything like this,” Dr. Minnis said during a news conference. “This is a deadly storm and a monster storm.”“As a physician, I have been trained to withstand many things — but never anything like this,” Dr. Minnis said during a news conference. “This is a deadly storm and a monster storm.”
But not everybody was moving to higher ground. Frederick Smith, a lawyer who had promised to ride the storm out at his beachfront home in Freeport, was unmoved by the prime minister’s appeals, even after he saw the destruction in the Abaco Islands. Residents of the Abaco Islands anxiously scoured social media and the news, trying to sift through rumors for solid information on the condition of their communities and the status of their neighbors, friends and relatives.
“I built my home to survive,” he said by telephone as he waited for the storm to hit. “We’re a set of pirate islands, we survive. But with phone, Internet and power lines down in many places, communication was severely limited.
“Unfortunately a lot of people are going to have their lives disrupted,” he said. “It is very challenging and difficult for many people.” “Checking on Capt. Plug and Debbie and family? Any news?” wrote Sean Fletcher to the Facebook page of a volunteer fire and rescue unit in Hope Town, a settlement on Elbow Cay, an eight-mile islet in the Abaco Islands.
“I’m trying to reach my brother, Pherrol Duncombe, the chef at the Harbour Lodge,” wrote Ohemaa Tamara. “If you have any information please let me know.”
But there were also flashes of good news amid the fear and worry.
“PRAISE GOD!” exclaimed Karen Huff-Lowe in a post to the Facebook page of Hope Town Bulletin Group. “I just got confirmation my family, Robert, Mercedes, Bessie and Maity are all ok. They think everyone else on the island is too but communication limited. No other news to report at this time.”
Late Monday morning, Hope Town Volunteer Fire and Rescue reported on its Facebook page that there were plans for a rescue flotilla of boats carrying basic supplies to leave Nassau bound for Hope Town “as soon as the weather permits.”