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‘Catastrophic’ Dorian pounds Bahamas, US evacuates coast
RIVIERA BEACH, United States, Sept 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Hurricane Dorian
battered the Bahamas with ferocious wind and rain on Sunday, the monstrous
Category 5 storm wrecking towns and homes as it churned on an uncertain path
toward the US coast where hundreds of thousands were ordered to evacuate.
There was no immediate word on casualties in the low-lying islands.
But the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’
called the storm’s impact “catastrophic”.
Packing sustained winds of 165 miles per hour (270 kph), Dorian crashed
onshore in the Abacos Islands, in the northwest of the Bahamas, as the
strongest storm ever to hit the Caribbean chain.
It was tied for the second most powerful hurricane ever in the Atlantic
basin, the US National Weather Service said — with footage on social media
showing major destruction from howling gusts of wind and pounding seawater.
Parts of the Abacos remained under water as forecasters warned they faced
a towering 18 to 23 foot storm surge.
Video posted on the website of the Bahamian newspaper Tribune 242 showed
water up to the roofs of wooden houses in what appeared to be a coastal town.
Capsized boats floated in muddy brown water dotted with wooden boards, tree
branches and other debris.
In other social media footage of what appears to be an inland area, cars
were smashed or turned over, telephone poles and trees were snapped and
debris filled the yards of severely damaged homes. AFP could not immediately
confirm the authenticity of the footage.
After days of nerve-wracking uncertainty surrounding the storm’s path, the
southeastern US states of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina finally ordered
hundreds of thousands of coastal residents to evacuate.
The NHC said the storm will be “dangerously close” to the Florida coast
Monday night through Tuesday.
On Sunday night, the eastern part of Grand Bahama was experiencing the eye
wall of the storm. The NHC said the situation on that island was life-
threatening and would only worsen overnight.
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“Do not venture out into the eye, as winds will suddenly increase after
the eye passes,” the NHC warned in its 0500 GMT update.
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis broke down in tears as he addressed a
news conference, calling it “probably the most sad and worst day of my life,”
the Nassau Guardian reported.
“We’re facing a hurricane… one that we’ve never seen in the history of
the Bahamas,” he said.
As of 0500 GMT, the storm was 40 miles (60 kilometers) east of Freeport on
Grand Bahama and moving slowly west.
“It feels like we are standing in a line waiting for a beating,” Yasmin
Rigby, a resident of Freeport, the island’s main city, told AFP.
Initial rapid emergency assessments, carried out by the IFRC and local
authorities, said as many as 13,000 buildings may have been damaged or
destroyed by Dorian.
Sune Bulow, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies’ Emergency Operation Centre in Geneva, said: “We don’t yet
have a complete picture of what has happened. But it is clear that Hurricane
Dorian has had a catastrophic impact.”
– Strongest storm to hit Bahamas –
NHC director Ken Graham said the Bahamas would be under major hurricane
conditions for a punishing 30 hours or more — enduring roaring winds and
torrential rainfall of 15 to 20 inches, even 30 inches in places.
In Washington, President Donald Trump met with his emergency management
chiefs and declared “this looks monstrous.”
“We expect that much of the eastern seaboard will be ultimately impacted
and some of it very, very severely,” he said.
Florida issued its first evacuation orders in parts of Palm Beach, home of
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and Martin Counties.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster followed suit Sunday ordering
mandatory evacuations of the state’s coast — affecting some 800,000 people –
– while Georgia gave orders to evacuate six coastal counties. Both orders
take effect Monday at noon.
“Given the strength and unpredictability of the storm, we must prepare for
every possible scenario,” McMaster said.
Neighboring North Carolina has also declared a state of emergency.
– ‘Better prepare’ –
Kevin McAleenan, acting homeland security secretary, said hurricane force
winds could hit Florida, followed by a prolonged rain event combined with a
storm surge.
“That’s going to be very difficult as the storm starts to move northward,”
he said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Trump has declared a federal state of emergency in Florida, authorizing US
assistance to supplement state and local efforts.
In southern Florida’s Jensen Beach, a mobile home park visited by AFP
stood all but empty — its rickety dwellings boarded up with thin wood or
metal sheets.
Joe Lewis, a 61-year-old navy veteran — who is diabetic and disabled —
was trying to prop up his air conditioner with a wooden post as he prepared
to flee the storm’s path.
“When I come back, this place may not be here,” he told AFP. “Mother
Nature can be hell. I’ve seen it.”
“There’s only one thing that’s important. It’s not what you own, it’s who
you are, and your life. It doesn’t matter if I’ve got a million dollar home,
I leave it. My life’s more important.”
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1555 hrs