The morning after Dorian: Apocalyptic scenes in the Bahamas as cars float in the streets, boats are thrown upside down and thousands are left without homes after ‘catastrophic’ storm obliterates the island and kills five
Storm has killed at least five people and destroyed 13,000 homes during its path of destruction in Bahamas
Floodwaters from the storm reached the second floors of some buildings and trapped people in their attics
Photos have captured some devastation with one photos showing dozens of capsized boats at a harbor
Video shows stalled cars among flooded roads, destroyed homes and Bahamians picking through debris
Bahamas prime minister Hubert Minnis told reporters on Tuesday: ‘We are in the midst of a historic tragedy’
Exact toll of devastation in Bahamas will not be clear until storm passes and rescue crews can get on ground
Hurricane Dorian weakened to a Category 2 storm shortly after 11am Tuesday as it approaches United States
By VALERIE EDWARDS
DAILYMAIL.COM
3 September 2019
Hurricane Dorian has killed at least five people and destroyed as many as 13,000 homes during its path of destruction through the Bahamas.
The catastrophic onslaught sent floodwaters up to the second floors of some buildings, trapped people in attics and led to others fleeing from one shelter to another.
Dorian’s relentless winds and rain battered homes and businesses on the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama, which have a combined population of about 70,000 and are no more than 40 feet above sea level at their highest points.
The Grand Bahama airport was said to be under 6 feet of water. The exact toll of the devastation in the Bahamas will not be clear until the storm passes and rescue crews can get on the ground. The storm hovered over the islands for almost 24 hours.
Photos have captured just a glimpse of the devastation in the Bahamas. One photo shows dozens of capsized boats at a harbor, while video shows stalled cars among flooded roads and completely destroyed homes.
One video shows Bahamians picking through debris as they try to salvage some of their belongings.
Bahamas prime minister Hubert Minnis said: ‘We are in the midst of a historic tragedy. The devastation is unprecedented and extensive.’
‘Our mission and focus now is search, rescue and recovery,’ Minnis added.
He added that the US Coast Guard was on the ground in Abaco and had rescued a number of injured individuals.
The Coast Guard airlifted at least 21 people who were injured on Abaco Island, which Dorian hit on Sunday with sustained winds of 185mph and gusts of up to 220mph, a strength matched only by the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, before storms were given names.
Critically injured people were being taken to hospitals on New Providence, the country’s most populous island.
The storm was at a standstill, with part of its eyewall having hung over Grand Bahama Island since Sunday night.
As many as 13,000 homes in the Bahamas may have been destroyed or severely damaged, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
Efforts to reach officials in the Bahamas by phone on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
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, a resident who fled two days ago to an emergency shelter.
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