Dorian slams Bahamas with record-setting force, eyes Florida

McLEAN’S TOWN CAY, Bahamas (AP) — In a slow, relentless advance, a catastrophic Hurricane Dorian kept pounding at the northern Bahamas early Monday, as one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded left wrecked homes, shredded roofs, tumbled cars and toppled power poles in its wake.

The storm’s top sustained winds decreased slightly to 165 miles per hour as its westward movement slowed, crawling along Grand Bahama island Monday morning at one mile per hour in what forecasters said would be a daylong assault.

Earlier, Dorian churned over Abaco island with battering winds and surf during Sunday.

Information began emerging from the affected islands, with Bahamas Power and Light saying there is a total blackout in New Providence, the archipelago’s most populous island.

“The reports out of Abaco (island) as everyone knows,” company spokesman Quincy Parker told ZNS Bahamas radio station, “were not good.”

Most people went to shelters as the Category 5 storm approached, with tourist hotels shutting down and residents boarded up their homes. But many people were expected to be left homeless.

“It’s devastating,” Joy Jibrilu, director general of the Bahamas’ Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, said Sunday afternoon. “There has been huge damage to property and infrastructure. Luckily, no loss of life reported.”

On Sunday, Dorian’s maximum sustained winds reached 185 miles per hour, with gusts up to 220 miles per hour, tying the record for the most powerful Atlantic hurricane to ever make landfall.

That equalled the Labour Day hurricane of 1935, before storms were named.

The only recorded storm that was more powerful was Hurricane Allen in 1980, with 190 miles per hour winds, though it did not make landfall at that strength.

Forecasters said Dorian was most likely to begin pulling away from the Bahamas early Tuesday and curving to the northeast parallel to the U.S. Southeast seaboard.

Still, the potent storm was expected to stay close to shore and hammer the coast with dangerous winds and heavy surf, while authorities cautioned that it could still make landfall.

According to a Monday morning advisory from the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, the storm was virtually parked over Grand Bahama island, which was in for a “prolonged period of catastrophic winds and storm surge” though the night.

It also said Florida’s east-central coast may see a brief tornado sometime between Monday afternoon and Monday night.

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