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Rescuers battle to reach devastated communities as cruise ships arrive with supplies and volunteers
Rescue teams are still struggling to reach some flood-hit Bahamian communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian as top officials said the death toll had risen to 43, while it is feared hundreds, perhaps thousands, remain missing.
Government agencies and charities continued to bring desperately needed relief efforts to the Bahamas, including cruise ships loaded with supplies and volunteers.
The Bahamian health minister has said the public will need to prepare for ‘unimaginable information about the death toll’ as it continues to rise after Hurricane Dorian brought 185mph winds to the Caribbean nation. The UN ordered eight tons of ready-to-eat meals, and crews have begun clearing streets and setting up aid distribution centres. The storm, which has now weakened, is moving slowly north along the eastern US seaboard
We’re logging off here, but our reporters in the Bahamas and North Carolina will continue our Dorian coverage this weekend. Here’s a wrap up of everything that happened today:
Fears are growing that damage to a major oil storage terminal on the shore of Grand Bahama Island could cause oil to leak into the ocean, potentially damaging reefs and wildlife off the coast.
Lashing rain, 185mph winds – the ferocious storm has left 43 dead and hundreds missing. Oliver Laughland reports from the rubble of Grand Bahama
As Erica Roberts clung to a tall mango tree, the winds and sea water churned up by Hurricane Dorian pounding her face, a single thought ran through her head: “I will not die like this.”
Aid groups struggle to deliver basic supplies due to destruction
Category 2 storm with winds of 110mph threatens US coastline
After hammering the Bahamas and leaving at least 30 dead, Hurricane Dorian began raking the south-east US seaboard, with the eye hitting theNorth Carolina coast on Thursday evening.
The threat to the US remains real but in the Bahamas the storm has left such terrible devastation that the authorities were still struggling to get aid to stricken areas and the death toll is expected to rise, perhaps steeply.
Sarah St George, chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, told the Guardian that the “force and size” of Dorian took everyone by surprise, a situation made worse by the hurricane stalling over the archipelago.
“Grand Bahama is not in good shape at all because 70% of it was under water,” St George said. “On the north side of the island the water was coming up to the second floor of their houses. My assistant Tammy was on the roof of her house for 30 hours hanging on to a coconut tree with her 8-year-old daughter Ariana. Her grandmother lost her grip and slipped off the roof and drowned. There was no way of getting to them. They’ve lost everything.”
In the president’s continuing battle against his own incorrect statement that Alabama was under threat from Hurricane Dorian, which has left at least 23 people dead, he has just now been tweeting what he claims is evidence he knew what he was talking about.
It is not.
Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it! pic.twitter.com/elJ7ROfm2p
Officials expect the number of dead will continue to rise as large parts of some islands remain inaccessible to rescue crews
The official death toll of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas has risen to 20 people with officials certain the number will continue to rise, the prime minister, Hubert Minnis, announced as he declared a “historic tragedy” on the archipelago.
At a press conference late on Wednesday the prime minister also warned of reports of looting on the Abaco Islands, a northern band of islands in the Bahamas hardest hit by Dorian, which pummelled the area as a slow moving category 5 hurricane over the weekend.
Aerial footage taken on Wednesday shows utter devastation in Marsh Harbour, one of the first places in the Bahamas ravaged by Hurricane Dorian. The video recorded over the Bahamas' Great Abaco Island showed mile upon mile of flooded neighbourhoods, pulverised buildings, upturned boats and shipping containers scattered like toys. Many buildings that had not been flattened had walls or roofs partly ripped away. “We are in the midst of a historic tragedy,” said the Bahamian prime minister, Hubert Minnis. “The devastation is unprecedented and extensive.”
Kari Paul logging off for the evening. Please stay tuned tomorrow for more updates as Dorian reaches the US coast and the picture of effects on the Bahamas become clearer.
Here are the latest updates from this afternoon:
The death toll for Hurricane Dorian climbed to seven, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said on Tuesday night, according to CNN. The death toll, which was at five earlier in the day, has been expected to climb as survivors of the natural disaster face ongoing food and medicine shortages.
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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. #Dorianpic.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
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/tW4KeFW0gBpic.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.
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.
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."
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.