Hurricane Dorian has torn across part of the Bahamas in the Caribbean, leaving a wake of destruction with the Category 5 storm now bearing down on the U.S. mainland.
The hurricane made landfall on Sunday afternoon at Elbow Cay in the Abaco Islands—a group of islands and barrier cays in the northeast of the Bahamas archipelago which sit less than 200 miles from the Florida coast.Power cuts and internet disruption meant that information is only slowly emerging from the affected regions. Thereported that the Abaco Islands were underwater after Dorian hit, as a result of a 23-foot storm surge.
Roofs were also torn from buildings as the islands were battered by sustained winds of up to 180 miles per hour,noted. This makes Dorian the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane on record. Photos and videos from the affected areas showed homes and businesses—some without roofs—inundated by the floodwaters. Residents were sheltering inside buildings as the water levels rose and sustained heavy winds and driving rain battered the area.