Home POLITICS Hurricane Dorian Closes In on Bahamas as ‘Catastrophic’ Storm

Hurricane Dorian Closes In on Bahamas as ‘Catastrophic’ Storm

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Hurricane Dorian Closes In on Bahamas as ‘Catastrophic’ Storm

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CreditCreditDante Carrer/Reuters

Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Bahamas around midday Sunday with sustained winds near 180 m.p.h., the strongest on record to hit the northwestern archipelago, leaving residents scrambling to find shelter as they braced for rising waters and torrential rains.

The storm strengthened to a Category 5 on Sunday before it made landfall. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center called it “catastrophic” and warned that its “extreme winds and storm surge will continue for several hours.”

[Follow live updates on Hurricane Dorian here.]

This is a region that prides itself on withstanding powerful storms, but Dorian brings greater dangers than most. The storm’s slow pace and the low-lying islands’ vulnerability to flooding added to the concerns.

“A prolonged period of life-threatening storm surge, devastating hurricane-force winds and heavy rains are capable of producing life-threatening flash floods,” the center said.

The core of the hurricane was expected to move slowly over the Abaco Islands and toward the Great Bahama Island. Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said on Saturday that 73,000 residents and 21,000 homes would be affected.

The storm has grown larger with winds extending up to 45 miles from the center. Meteorologists also warned of a storm surge that would raise water levels as much as 18 to 25 feet above normal and deliver more than two feet of rainfall in some areas.

“We will pray and hope for the best but plan for the worst,” Michael Pintard, the Bahamian minister of agriculture, said in a text message on Saturday evening.

Residents hunkered down in schools, churches and other emergency shelters, but there was concern that some would try to brave the storm in their homes.

Frankie Fleuridor, an activist who works with the Haitian community in the town of Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco was worried that not everybody would be able to leave.

“Some people are saying that they’re not going to go because they have nowhere to go,” he said on Saturday. “It’s tough for people in the shantytowns,” he said, because their plywood houses are not built to withstand hurricane-force winds and are vulnerable to flooding.

He said that he had rented hotel rooms for the most vulnerable, but could not afford to do more.

“I’m maxed out,” he said.

The prime minister warned residents of the most vulnerable regions on Friday to move to higher ground, but The Nassau Guardian reported on Saturday that some residents on Sweeting Cay, a fishing village on the eastern side of Grand Bahama Island, were stranded and calling for help.

Mr. Pintard, the agriculture minister, crisscrossed Grand Bahama Island on Saturday in a last-minute effort to help to residents. Many homes are still damaged from Hurricane Matthew, which hit the island two years ago. He brought a team of workers to nail plywood on roofs, windows and doors.

He said he was concerned that many of the damaged homes would face “tremendous rain downpour and hurricane-force winds,” and that there was a shortage of both labor and plywood to prepare.

Thousands of people were at risk of losing their homes — which is their “life’s investment,” he said, adding that “catastrophic damage” would close businesses and eliminate jobs, “which we are ill prepared for.”

Tourism is a mainstay of the Bahamas’ economy, but the region in the direct path of the storm is not the center of the industry. Many hotels on Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands were already closed for the low season.

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CreditNOAA/RAMMB, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Among those open was Abaco Beach Resort in Marsh Harbour. Most tourists had left, but a few were planning to brave it along with the news crews, insurance executives, business travelers and some local residents who had booked rooms.

“It’s emergency business, not business as usual,” said Rick Lohr, the hotel’s general manager. He said the hotel had a generator and ample food and water supplies, but he was cautious nonetheless.

“A lot of people have generators and plans for this because we’re very susceptible to storms, but this is a big one,” he said. “You never take them for granted,” he added.

“It’s moving so slowly, you don’t know where it’s going to go,” he added. “It can create a lot of damage.”

The Bahamas Meteorology Department said it expected the eye of the storm to pass over the Abaco Islands on Sunday afternoon and move over Grand Bahama overnight.

As the storm approached North Abaco, water began to break over the sea wall at Cooper’s Town, according to video shared by residents and posted on the Twitter feed of The Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas. The Nassau Guardian reported that many residents of Great Guana Cay, one of the easternmost Abaco islands, had refused to evacuate.

Troy Albury, a resident of Great Guana Cay, told the newspaper that about 150 people were still on the island.

“Our house is built solid,” he said. “It’s more than 15 feet above sea level. My house isn’t going anywhere,” he added.

“We’ve been through four storms.”

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