CHARLESTON/MAR SH HARBOUR (United States): The final death toll from the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas could be “staggering,” a government minister has said, as the storm headed for the US east coast. Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis told CNN Thursday that at least 30 people were killed in the storm, which caused what he called “generational devastation”.
Extra morticians and refrigerated coolers to store bodies were being sent to the region to help authorities cope with the deadly impact, Health Minister Duane Sands told local media. Of the final number killed, he declared: “Let me say that I believe the number will be staggering.”
An AFP team in the town of Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco on Thursday saw scenes of catastrophic damage with homes reduced to matchsticks, overturned cars, fields of jumbled debris, widespread flooding and beached boats. Dorian was a Category 5 hurricane — the highest on the five-level wind scale — when it slammed into the northern Bahamas on Sunday, leaving a trail of immense destruction. Thousands of been left homeless, while the United Nations said 70,000 were in immediate need of aid. The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) yesterday downgraded Dorian to a Category 1 storm as it headed to North Carolina.
“Dorian should remain a powerful hurricane as the centre moves near or along the coast of North Carolina,” it said. It warned that although weakening, Dorian was still packing winds of 150 kilometres per hour, with some areas of the Carolina coast forecast to see dangerous storm surges of up to 2.1 meters and between six and 12 inches of rain. The slow-moving monster storm also spawned several tornadoes but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The full extent of the damage in the northern Bahamas was becoming known on Thursday as rescue teams fanned out searching for survivors and bringing relief to victims. “It’s hell everywhere,” said Brian Harvey, a Canadian from Montreal, told AFP in Great Abaco. “I was on my sailboat,” Harvey said. “I lost everything.” “We need to get out of here,” he added. “It’s been four or five days. It’s time to move and get out of here.” – AFP
