Bahamas Battered by 'Monster' Hurricane Dorian
The most
powerful storm to hit the Bahamas since records began has torn off roofs and
caused severe flooding.
The
slow-moving, category five Dorian - the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane on
record - is now packing sustained winds of up to 165mph (270km/h) and may cause
a storm surge of up to 23ft (7m).
There is no
official word on casualties but the Red Cross fears some 13,000 homes have been
damaged or destroyed.
The
hurricane is moving slowly west, with the eastern US coast at risk.
The US
states of Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina have all declared states
of emergency.
The US
National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that at 10:00 GMT, Dorian was moving very
slowly through Grand Bahama, having made landfall earlier on the Abaco islands,
which are just to the east.
Both chains
are in the north of the Bahamas archipelago. Grand Bahama, with a population of
about 50,000, is only 100km (60 miles) east of West Palm Beach in Florida.
Dorian is
travelling west at just over 1mph (2km/h).
The NHC said
the hurricane would "continue to pound Grand Bahama Island" through
much of the day and evening on Monday.
There was
little information overnight from the affected Bahamas islands amid power cuts
and limited in
ternet access
.
However,
video and tweets posted by Latrae Rahming, a former aide to ex-PM Perry
Christie, showed severe damage on the Abaco Islands, home to about 17,000
people, where landfall was first made with sustained winds close to 185mph.
Cars have
been flipped over and roofs torn off.
Mr Rahming
told the BBC it was as though a tornado had swept through Marsh Harbour on the
Abacos, with a surge as high as a two-storey building bringing intense
flooding.
He said he
feared for one shanty town area that houses about 1,500 people.
One video as
the storm hit the Abacos carried a desperate plea for help:
Kristoff
Ayala-Strachan, a blogger in Freeport on Grand Bahama, told the BBC he had
stacked up on supplies and shuttered the windows, and was expecting the storm
to last at least two days. The 24 year old said this was his eighth major
hurricane.
Joy Jibrilu,
director general of the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, said on Sunday
afternoon: "It's devastating. There has been huge damage to property and
infrastructure. Luckily, no loss of life reported."
However, Eyewitness
News later carried an interview with a grandmother who said her eight-year-old
grandson had drowned on the Abaco Islands.
The
government has opened 14 shelters and names dozens of churches, schools
and other buildings on its official lists of emergency shelters.
But as sites
become full, there is concern that people will be forced to take refuge in
other places that aren't listed to receive food and water from the government.
The country
is one of those most regularly hit by hurricanes, and homes are required to be
reinforced to withstand the winds of a category four storm.
Prime
Minister Hubert Minnis did announce an evacuation order for parts of Grand
Bahama and the Abaco Islands. All tourists were asked to leave.
But
officials expressed dismay that some people had chosen to stay.
Mr Minnis
said: "I can only say to them, that I hope this is not the last time they
will hear my voice and may God be with them."
The visibly
upset prime minister said in a news conference on Sunday: "This is
probably the most sad and worst day of my life. We're facing a hurricane...
that we've never seen in the history of the Bahamas."
Although
Dorian is currently heading westwards, it is forecast to make a gradual turn
north or north-west, taking it along the eastern US seaboard, making its
landfall point, if any, uncertain.
The NHC said
that Dorian's slow weakening would continue, but it would remain "a
powerful hurricane during the next couple of days" and would "move
dangerously close to the Florida east coast" on Monday night through to
Wednesday evening.
President
Donald Trump cancelled a planned trip to Poland last week and has met emergency
management officials.
He told
reporters on Sunday that the storm "looks monstrous" and the US east
coast would "be ultimately impacted and some of it very, very
severely".
Dorian has
grown larger in size, with hurricane-force winds extending up to 45 miles
(75km) from the storm's centre.
President
Trump has issued a federal state of emergency for Florida, and the state's
governor, Ron DeSantis, has activated 2,000 National Guard troops, with another
2,000 on standby.
Mr DeSantis
warned people not to be complacent following the change in the storm's
predicted path. "This storm at this magnitude could really cause massive
destruction," he said.
Popular
attractions, including Disney World in Orlando, have said they are
"closely monitoring" the storm. Miami has ordered the removal of
electric rental scooters from the streets to avoid them becoming projectiles.
South
Carolina on Sunday issued a mandatory evacuation of the entire coast, effective
of noon on Monday and affecting 830,000 people. Georgia then followed suit.
Scientists
cannot say whether climate change is increasing the number of hurricanes.
Although 2018 was the third year in a row of above-average storms in the
Atlantic season, years can vary widely.
However,
many do believe climate change is affecting the severity of the storms.
This is for
two main reasons.
Firstly, an
increase in sea surface temperatures strengthens the wind speeds within storms
and also raises the amount of precipitation a hurricane will dump.
Then there is
the issue of rising sea levels. They are expected to increase by one to four
feet over the next century, bringing the potential of far worse damage from sea
surges and coastal flooding during storms.
The warming
world is also making storms more sluggish. Over the past seven decades tropical
events have slowed, for example going 20-30% less quickly over land in North
America.
FROM https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-
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