Hurricane pounds Bahamas; states in storm's path evacuate

The slow-moving but deadly Hurricane Dorian pounded the Bahamas on Monday, causing at least five deaths in the Caribbean islands nation. The Category 4 storm is expected to slowly move north along the US East Coast.

One of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, Dorian had been hovering over Grand Bahama Island for 36 hours by early Monday evening and was expected to stay still until at least Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a 5 pm EDT advisory Monday.

Dorian was likely to begin pulling away from the Bahamas early Tuesday and curving to the northeast, parallel to the southeastern coast of the US.

The system is expected to spin 40 to 50 miles off Florida, with hurricane-force wind speeds extending about 35 miles to the west.

In the Bahamas, the storm threatened to unleash a surge that could raise water levels by as much as 12 to 18 feet above normal on Grand Bahama Island, the NHC said.

"The Bahamas is presently at war and being attacked by Hurricane Dorian," Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said, according to The Nassau Guardian. "And yet, it has no weapon at its disposal to defend itself during such an assault by this enemy.

"The initial reports from Abaco is that the devastation is unprecedented and extensive," he said. "We are in the midst of a historic tragedy in parts of our northern Bahamas. Hurricane Dorian is still battering Grand Bahama and will be there for many, many more hours."

As many as 13,000 homes in the Bahamas may have been destroyed or heavily damaged, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

Houses in a neighborhood in Freeport on Grand Bahama Island were engulfed by 6 feet of water.

"It looks like they're boats on top of the water," said Rosa Knowles-Bain, 61, who fled two days ago to an emergency shelter.

The hurricane, which was downgraded Monday morning to Category 4, packed maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, the NHC said.

Dorian was expected to drift to the northwest late on Tuesday and threaten the Florida, South Carolina and Georgia coasts.

Nine counties in Florida have issued mandatory evacuations. They included parts of Duval County, home to Jacksonville, one of Florida's two biggest cities, and some areas in Palm Beach County, home to US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged coastal residents to heed evacuation orders. "Get out now while there's time and while you have fuel available," he said Monday at the state's emergency operations center in Tallahassee.

Orlando International Airport planned to halt commercial operations at 2 am on Tuesday because of the storm.

Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando will close early on Tuesday, it said.

American Airlines said operations had been suspended at seven airports in Florida and in the Bahamas, and a travel alert was issued for more than 20 airports, including in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The airport on Grand Bahama Island was reportedly inundated with 5 feet of water.

A mandatory evacuation of the entire South Carolina coast took effect Monday, affecting about 830,000 people.

Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, ordered mandatory evacuations for that state's Atlantic coast, also starting at midday Monday.

"The best thing in the world would be for that hurricane to take a sharp right and go out in the ocean. We would all celebrate," South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said. "But we would rather be safe than sorry."

Dorian is tied with Gilbert (1988), Wilma (2005) and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane for the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane on record, based on maximum sustained winds. Allen in 1980 was the most powerful, with 190 mph winds, the NHC said.

On Labor Day, much of Florida's coast remained under a hurricane or tropical storm watch, but as of 5 pm, all of South Florida was out of the cone, The Miami Herald reported. Some tropical storm force winds were expected to hit Broward County by Monday night. There were no watches or warnings in Miami-Dade.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story.