Face of Nation : Hurricane Dorian technically diminished to Category 2 status Tuesday as it slowly turned to the northwest, but the historic and violent storm was growing in size as it moved away from the Bahamas and grazed the Florida coast.
The latest forecasts put the hurricane farther off Florida’s east coast than previous projections. Still, forecasters said, some coastal areas from Florida to North Carolina could see 4 to 10 inches of rain in coming days. Or worse.
“We still have hurricane warnings up because it’s just too close to call,” said Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “Any little wiggle, wobble and it could get really close to the coast.” Tuesday afternoon, tropical-storm-force winds were slamming portions of the east coast of Florida, the hurricane center said.
In the Bahamas, at least seven people have died and more deaths are expected, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said late Tuesday at a news conference. Minnis said he flew over the Abaco Islands and expects to do the same in Grand Bahama as soon as the weather clears.
In Abaco, he saw groups of people waving yellow sheets and shirts. He said 60 percent of homes were damaged in Marsh Harbor and that at least one community was completely destroyed.
The U.S. Coast Guard was assisting in rescue operations, Minnis said earlier Tuesday. Relief and rapid assessment teams were standing by and will be deployed as soon as possible, Minnis added. The center of the storm, which had stalled overnight, was picking up speed Tuesday and pulling away from the battered islands at about 6 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The storm lingered over the Bahamas after making landfall three times Sunday, triggering severe flooding as parts of the country face the prospects of up to 30 inches of rain. Wind speeds lessened slightly but still roared at 110 mph, with higher gusts. A storm surge of up to 15 feet was swamping neighborhoods.Dorian was a Category 5 monster driving sustained winds of 185 mph when it slammed into the Bahamas on Sunday. As the storm stalled, the Bahamas Press reported that the death toll was far higher than the government’s reports.
Brandisha Adderley, 29, said her home in Spring City, in the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas, was destroyed. Adderley, who lives with her 2-year-old daughter and her grandmother, said the family went to the home of a neighbor and huddled in the one room that was not ruined by the storm.
“Thank God for our defense force” that rescued the group and took them to a shelter, she said. “There is no food, no water. There is no way out of our community. Everything is wet and destroyed.”
The hurricane center said Dorian, 105 miles east of Vero Beach, Florida, was expected to head northwest or north-northwest later today and tonight. A turn toward the north is forecast by Wednesday evening, followed by a turn toward the north-northeast Thursday morning.
Millions of people living along the coast from Florida to North Carolina faced evacuation orders. A few heavy downpours associated with Dorian were rolling onto Florida’s east coast Tuesday. “Dangerous conditions at the beaches with high surf and rip currents,” the National Weather Service in Melbourne tweeted. “Don’t attempt to enter the water.”
The hurricane will move “dangerously close” to the Florida east coast late Tuesday through Wednesday evening and “very near” the Georgia and South Carolina coasts Wednesday night and Thursday, the Hurricane Center said.
