Category Archives: Natural disasters and extreme weather

Hurricane Dorian: officials worldwide seek aid amid ‘historic tragedy’ in Bahamas

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Thousands left without shelter and likely to face food and water shortages, say UN, US and local authorities

US officials and counterparts around the world sent out an urgent call for help for the Bahamas after the northernmost islands in the archipelago were pulverized by Hurricane Dorian.

Thousands of residents of Grand Bahama and Abaco islands are without shelter, stranded by flooding and are likely to suffer shortages of food, water and medicine that will worsen without quick action by the international community, according to coordinated messages from the United Nations, the US state department, the US embassy in Nassau and local officials.

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Hurricane Dorian batters Bahamas with severe flash floods and ferocious wind – video report

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The storm has stalled over the Bahamas, lashing the islands with wind, rain and storm surges, and killing at least five people. Thousands of homes were inundated with floodwater as rescue operations tried to reach stranded residents, many trapped on roofs. Dorian has now weakened to a category-2 hurricane but expanded in size as it heads towards the US.

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Hurricane Dorian: five dead as ‘extreme destruction’ inflicted on Bahamas

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Dorian stalls over Grand Bahama, bringing high winds, torrential rain and storm surges

Hurricane Dorian has stalled over the Bahamas, lashing the islands with wind, rain and storm surges, and killing at least five people.

Thousands of homes were inundated by floodwater as rescue operations tried to reach stranded residents, many trapped on roofs.

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Deadly Hurricane Dorian stalls over Bahamas – video

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Hurricane Dorian continued to thrash the Bahamas with fierce winds and heavy rain after barely moving from its position all day. At 8pm EDT Monday, the storm's centre was about 25 miles (40km) north-east of Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. At least five people have died, with the prime minister, Hubert Minnis, calling it 'an historic tragedy'.

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Hurricane Dorian leaves trail of destruction across the Bahamas – video

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Hurricane Dorian has pummelled the Bahamas with winds of over 180mph, unleashing massive flooding. Hubert Minnis, the prime minister of the Bahamas, said his country is 'in the midst of a historic tragedy' as at least five people were reported dead. The American Red Cross, which is already at standby in the Bahamas, is also preparing to shelter up to 60,000 Americans as the storm edges closer to the US.

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What to expect next from Hurricane Dorian

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The storm has been downgraded to category 2, but is expected to remain ‘powerful’ with winds of up to 105mph

Hurricane Dorian was slowly moving up the United States’ south-eastern coast on Wednesday, after pummeling the Bahamas with deadly force.

Related: 'Pray for us': Bahamas residents tell of terror as Hurricane Dorian hit

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‘Pray for us’: Bahamas residents tell of terror as Hurricane Dorian hit

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Bahamians say storm has left devastation, with buildings destroyed and bodies floating

• Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas – live updates

Residents of the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama have described “nightmarish” scenes as the full force of Hurricane Dorian struck the northernmost part of the Bahamas.

As the first person to have died in the storm was reported to be seven-year-old Lachino Mcintosh, who drowned after his family tried to move from their home, witnesses described large-scale flooding and damage as 185mph (300km/h) winds ripped roofs from buildings.

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Hurricane Dorian: as many as 13,000 houses severely damaged or destroyed in Bahamas – live updates

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Reports an eight-year-old boy has been killed after Dorian made landfall at Great Abaco Island on Sunday

Despite its downgrade, Dorian is still a powerful hurricane and will remain so in the coming days. There’s not much difference between an intense category 4 and a low-end category 5.

Friendly reminder: There is little difference in impact between a #hurricane at the top end of Cat 4 and "low end" of Cat 5. Grand Bahama Island would certainly vouch for that right now. #Dorian pic.twitter.com/g93aDrp02T

Disastrous flooding from the Bahamas - lady who posted this video said: “#HurricaneDorian this was taken in a home by the canal my aunty live by the canal yall I scared” pic.twitter.com/EEZHE3GeCx

Queens Cove Grand Bahamas #Dorian pic.twitter.com/yDhBwoiy3k

NEW: The Hurricane Warning along the east coast of Florida has been extended northward to the Flagler/Volusia County Line. The Hurricane Watch has been extended northward to Altamaha Sound, Georgia. Full advisory on #Dorian is at: https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/at3bCDs6OQ

The National Hurricane Center expects the hurricane to gradually weaken and has reclassified from a category 5 to a category 4. Maximum winds are at 155 miles per hour, with higher gusts.

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Hurricane Dorian lashes Bahamas with ferocious winds and flash flooding – video

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Winds of more than 220mph (355km/h) have struck the northern Bahamas in the biggest storm to hit the Caribbean island chain in modern times. The ‘catastrophic’ category 5 hurricane forced the US states of Georgia and South Carolina to issue evacuation orders for their coastal communities on Sunday night as the National Hurricane Center warned of storm surges of 18-23ft (5.5-7 metres) above normal levels.

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Hurricane Dorian wreaks havoc on Bahamas as ‘catastrophic’ Category 5 storm – video

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Yachts lie capsized in harbours after hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas on Sunday. It intensified into a dangerous category 5 storm as it approached and pounded the island chain with torrential rain, high waves and damaging winds. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned of wind gusts of more than 220mph (355km/h) and a storm surge of up to 23ft (7m), that will cause “extreme destruction” and could continue for “several hours”. Earlier, Samuel Butler from the Royal Bahamas police force said: 'We have our limitations. When the hurricane is upon us we will not be able to act. The roads will be filled with water ... and we will not be able to get to you."

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Hurricane Dorian pounds northern Bahamas with ‘catastrophic’ winds

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Hurricane Dorian grew into a “catastrophic” category 5 storm on Sunday as winds of more than 180mph pounded the northernmost islands of the Bahamas, the biggest storm to hit the island chain in modern times.

Related: Floridians not fazed as Hurricane Dorian’s path keeps state guessing

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Hurricane Dorian: where will the storm hit and what damage will it bring?

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Dorian is one of the six strongest hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic, but meteorologists are finding its path difficult to predict

Hurricane Dorian is proving a slippery customer. Not only is it one of the six strongest hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic in the past 70 years, but meteorologists are finding its path very difficult to predict because of its wide “cone of uncertainty”. It is impossible to say just where the storm will hit – and with how much deadly force.

Within that fuzzy picture, Dorian has the potential to affect millions in the Caribbean and along the US coast. So what is the current thinking about its path?

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Hurricane Dorian: Trump flies to golf club as likelihood of direct hit recedes

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  • National Hurricane Center warns of winds and storm surge
  • Bahamas set to be hit Sunday, US east coast remains on alert

Millions along the US east coast from Florida to North Carolina remained under threat of a deadly strike from Hurricane Dorian on Saturday, even as official predictions for the path of the 150mph monster storm pulled back from from a direct hit on land.

Related: The historic hurricanes that made landfall on Florida’s east coast

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Hurricane Dorian strengthens to category 4 as Florida braces for storm

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Landfall anticipated early Tuesday on state’s east coast with maximum sustained winds of 140mph

Residents of Florida braced for what could be a historically damaging storm on Friday as Hurricane Dorian lingered in the western Atlantic, building strength in advance of its anticipated landfall early on Tuesday on the state’s east coast.

The storm strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” category 4 hurricane on Friday evening, amid fears it could prove to be the most powerful hurricane to hit Florida’s east coast in nearly 30 years. Forecasters warned that Dorian could wallop the state with “extremely dangerous” 140mph (225 kph) winds.

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The historic hurricanes that made landfall on Florida’s east coast

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As Hurricane Dorian is projected to strike, the deadliest storms to hit the state recently approached from the Gulf, south and west

Hurricane Dorian is projected to make landfall on Florida’s east coast early next week as a potential category 4 storm with winds up to 140mph.

While hurricane activity on the Atlantic coast is not uncommon, the deadliest recent storms to strike Florida, including Michael (2018) and Irma (2017), approached from the Gulf side, the south and west.

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Hurricane Dorian: Florida declares state of emergency as it awaits storm’s arrival

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Puerto Rico was spared, but storm is expected to land in Florida Sunday night, potentially as a category 4 hurricane

Florida is bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Dorian with weather experts on Thursday proclaiming the state’s entire east coast at risk.

A state of emergency has been declared and Donald Trump on Thursday canceled his forthcoming trip this weekend to Poland as the storm bears down. It was announced that the vice-president, Mike Pence, will travel to the eastern European nation in the president’s stead.

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Brazil: fears for isolated Amazon tribes as fires erupt on protected reserves

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  • Fires broke out in 131 indigenous reserves from 15-20 August
  • Campaigners say indigenous territories easy targets for loggers

Fires have been reported in protected indigenous reserves of the Brazilian Amazon, raising fears that loggers and land grabbers have targeted these remote areas during the dramatic surge in blazes across the world’s biggest rainforest.

Blazes have been seen on the Araribóia indigenous reserve in Maranhão state – a heavily deforested reserve on the Amazon’s eastern fringes, which is home to about 80 people from an isolated group of Awá indigenous people, described by the NGO Survival International as the world’s most endangered tribe.

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Hurricane Dorian spares Puerto Rico and heads for eastern coast of Florida

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Power outages and flooding were reported in the Virgin Islands and the Puerto Rican islands, but no damages

Hurricane Dorian caused limited damage in the northern Caribbean as it left the region and gathered strength late Wednesday, setting its sights on the US mainland as it threatened to grow into a Category 3 storm.

Puerto Rico, which had braced for the worst, seemed to be spared any heavy wind and rain, a huge relief to many on an island where blue tarps still cover some 30,000 homes nearly two years after Hurricane Maria. The island’s 3.2 million inhabitants also depend on an unstable power grid that remains prone to outages since it was destroyed by Maria.

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Jair Bolsonaro demands Macron withdraw ‘insults’ over Amazon fires

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Brazilian and French presidents continue feud over G7 aid package for wildfires raging in Amazon rainforest

Brazil’s far-right president and his backers have escalated their row over the Amazon with Emmanuel Macron, attacking the French president’s “lamentable colonialist stance” as fires continued to rage in the world’s biggest rainforest.

As Brazil said it would reject a $20m (£16m) G7 contribution to fight the fires, Jair Bolsonaro spurned Macron’s criticism of his environmental record and flaunted Donald Trump’s support for his far-right administration.

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