Hurricane Dorian’s reach sprawls from Bahamas to Florida

“Water levels could begin to rise well in advance of the arrival of strong winds,” the center warned, adding that the surge would be accompanied by large and destructive waves. In some places on the coast, seawater could rise to 7 feet above normal tidal levels.

Dorian was moving a bit faster, at 6 mph, toward the northwest, and it was expected to keep up that speed or gain a little more overnight, the center said. Its maximum sustained winds remained steady at 110 mph. By Wednesday evening, the storm was expected to turn to a more northerly track.

With the center of the storm about 100 miles east of Melbourne, Florida, Dorian was whipping Florida on Tuesday evening with tropical-storm-force winds, which extended out about 175 miles from the center. A tornado or two near the coast of Florida was possible, the center said. The storm’s stronger hurricane-force winds, which extended about 60 miles from the center, remained some hours away from reaching the mainland but were likely to do so overnight.

The Coast Guard is trying to help in the Bahamas

The U.S. Coast Guard has sent seven helicopters to the Bahamas to help with rescue efforts, but the continued severe weather was making it difficult for them to reach the hardest-hit islands, Rear Adm. Todd Sokalzuk said Tuesday.

Sokalzuk, the deputy commander of the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area, said that about 35 people had been evacuated by helicopter from Marsh Harbour, the main town in the Abaco Islands. Some had been injured by the storm; others were patients hospitalized at a local clinic that was damaged.

Low visibility and high turbulence have thwarted helicopters from getting to Grand Bahama Island despite two days of trying, the admiral said. “At this point we have only been getting somewhat west of the Abacos,” the admiral said. “We are very anxious for the weather to clear to get into Grand Bahama Island.”

The admiral said airports on both Grand Bahama and Great Abaco were still awash with seawater, and roads had been washed out. “Based on the devastation we have seen in the Abacos, we think it will probably be worse in Grand Bahama,” he added. “Because the storm sat there for so long, there is probably increased damage. There are potentially more people that need assistance.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection also sent a helicopter and, at the request of the Bahamian government, is helping to ferry Royal Bahamian Police Force officers to the affected islands and then evacuate injured people on the return trip, the admiral said.

Sokalzuk said the Coast Guard was being bombarded with calls asking the agency to check on the welfare of loved ones in the islands, hampering the agency’s efforts. He said all such requests from private American citizens should be sent to the State Department instead, by emailing CA-CCM-Dorian@state.gov. Americans overseas who need assistance can call the State Department at +1 (202) 501-4444.

The admiral said that people in life-threatening situations in the Bahamas should call 911 or 919 or contact the Bahamian National Emergency Management Agency. “Do not post to social media to receive emergency support,” he said, stressing that the Coast Guard is not able to monitor such posts. “We will only respond to validated calls and have a large volume waiting.”

Rescue efforts in the Bahamas are being hampered by flooding

Hurricane Dorian, now a Category 2 storm, is finally inching away from the Bahamas, where rescue missions were hampered Tuesday because so many police and government vehicles are submerged in seawater that is only just beginning to recede.

The storm, which hit the northern Bahamas as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, has pummeled the islands for more than two days with unrelenting rain and wind, and has killed at least seven people there. It is highly unusual for a storm of Dorian’s magnitude to halt and hover over land, as it did in the Bahamas.

By Tuesday evening, its center had moved nearly 100 miles north of Grand Bahama Island and was creeping northwest. But tropical storm conditions were not expected to end in the Grand Bahama area for several more hours, said Kevin D. Harris, director general of the Bahamas Information Center.

Emergency offices received at least 200 frantic calls from people stranded on their rooftops or attics. Responders were trying to help after the eye passed over the island, but “some of the bigger vehicles, dump trucks and fire engines are trying to get through the water,” Harris said.

There was so much water that government offices, including the government radio station, had to move out of the lower floors of buildings. A government minister who was stuck in his flooded home was rescued, Harris said.

“Some folks were in more of a desperate situation than others,” he said. “We are seeing unprecedented levels of water.”

He said there was deep concern for the Abaco Islands, which took the full brunt of the hurricane, because many Haitian migrants live there in two shantytowns, known as the Mud and Pigeon Peas. Videos showed stunned residents of the island looking at crumpled cars, smashed homes, piles of debris and contorted trees.

“We are already hearing from residents that whole towns have been wiped out and devastated,” Harris said. “This is going to be a big search-and-rescue and rebuilding effort. I don’t think we have seen anything as bad as this. This one is for the history books.”

Dorian is pelting parts of Florida with rain

Forecasters said the hurricane would move “dangerously close” to the Florida coast, beginning late Tuesday night and continuing through Wednesday evening. Then it is expected to move northward to affect the Georgia and South Carolina coasts beginning late Wednesday. By the end of the week it is expected to be shadowing the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia.

Even if the hurricane’s center does not cross the coastline, powerful winds and rain are all but certain to disrupt life in the region. The storm has grown in size as it has weakened in strength, and its hurricane-force winds were extending outward as far as 60 miles from its center Tuesday, up from 45 miles Sunday. Winds of tropical-storm force extended as far as 175 miles from the center.

Much of Florida’s eastern coast is also likely to be hit with dangerous storm surges.

Rain bands and tropical storm-strength winds pelted Palm Beach County on Tuesday morning. Authorities cautioned that residents should remain indoors throughout the day, and people appeared to be heeding the advice. But some people ventured outside, including a few wading in ankle-deep storm surge during high tide at a waterfront park in Lantana.

A spokesman for Florida Power & Light, the state’s giant utility, said it had restored electricity for some 70,000 customers through 4 p.m. Tuesday. Most of the disruptions had been caused by windblown trees and vegetation falling on lines and equipment, the utility said.

In Jacksonville, Mayor Lenny Curry warned that the window to prepare for Dorian was quickly closing. The city was deploying teams to rescue residents and clear roads as needed.

“Today is your last day to get prepared,” Curry said. “This is no time to rest and think that everything’s going to be OK.”

Nearly a quarter-million people have fled the South Carolina coast

Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina told reporters Tuesday that 244,000 people had already left the coastal regions of the state, where a mandatory evacuation has been ordered. State officials issued the order for all or part of eight coastal counties, an area whose population is roughly 830,000.

McMaster said that residents should take Dorian seriously, saying that up to 10 inches of rain was expected and that flooding was all but inevitable.

“There’s plenty of gas and plenty of room to leave,” McMaster said, adding, “You can always come back.”

In the low-lying and flood-prone city of Charleston, South Carolina, city officials began distributing sandbags at 8 a.m. Tuesday, and opened parking garages to give residents a safer place to store their cars. The city is within the mandatory evacuation area.

Authorities urged Floridians who are tired of waiting to wait the storm out a little longer

As residents of Florida’s Atlantic coast stirred from days of storm anxiety and being stuck indoors, Gov. Ron DeSantis reminded them that Dorian’s threat is not over. Many counties will only now start feeling the hurricane’s effects as it crawls north.

“I appreciate a lot of Floridians hanging in there,” DeSantis said. “We’re here until the duration, monitoring this thing.”

George Recktenwald, the administrator of Volusia County, said he knew residents were getting “antsy.” But he noted that Dorian’s 110 mph winds are just 1 mph below Category 3, and that the storm will swipe the coast for the next 24 hours even though it did not look likely to make landfall there.

Farther south, in Indian River County, officials lifted a mandatory coastal evacuation order, but they asked residents to avoid storm “sightseeing.”

“Stay close to home,” said Jason Brown, the county administrator.

Evacuations are ordered along the Georgia and the Carolina coasts

Residents began evacuating Tuesday from the coasts of Georgia and North and South Carolina, as meteorologists warned that Hurricane Dorian would probably bring tornadoes, life-threatening storm surges and dangerous winds along the coasts of the three states into Thursday.

A mandatory evacuation order took effect for Georgia’s coastal counties at noon ET on Tuesday. In Savannah, restaurants like Clary’s Café and the Two Cracked Eggs Café were open for breakfast in the morning, but downtown was beginning to empty out, as residents and tourists apparently heeded the passionate plea of Mayor Eddie DeLoach.

“I can’t decide for you, but I’m asking you, as the mayor of Savannah: Please attempt to get out of town as best you can, and come back in a few days and begin your life over and move forward,” DeLoach said in a public appearance Monday night, according to The Savannah Morning News.

In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper said he would issue an evacuation order for all of the state’s barrier islands, noting that some people had already begun to leave.

“We’re still hoping this thing will move off to the east, and won’t hit us too bad,” Cooper said. “We know the forecast does bring it very close, if not onto the North Carolina coast. And so we’re going to be ready for it.”

South Florida, which has historic ties to the Bahamas, prepares to aid its neighbors

Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez of Miami-Dade County said the government would begin accepting donations of supplies for the ravaged islands at four sites.

“We’ll match our thoughts and prayers with action by offering as much assistance as we can in the aftermath of this unprecedented event,” he said, accompanied by local and Bahamian officials at a Tuesday morning news conference.

Bahamians were among the first settlers of Miami, and many families can trace their lineage to the archipelago. Some still have relatives there, including Chairwoman Audrey M. Edmonson of the Miami-Dade County Commission.

“They are battered, but they are not broken,” she said.

Linda Treco-Mackey, the consul general of the Bahamas in Miami, said she hoped Dorian would quickly peel north and out to sea.

“We are, as a people, just hoping that we get past these next few days,” she said.