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In the Bahamas, officials said "reports of bodies reportedly seen" on Monday, as the slow Dorian hurricane continues to wreak havoc on the island, forcing first responders and locals to take shelter against the gusts of sustained winds of 150 mph.
Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield is currently awaiting a Category 4 storm on the island of Grand Bahama at a speed of 1 mph. Crews hoping to have a better assessment of the "catastrophic damage" reported in areas like the Abacos are still waiting for the conditions to improve. said the state broadcaster ZNS.
A car enters the capital in the rain before Hurricane Dorian arrives in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas on Sunday, September 1, 2019.
(AP)
"We have reports of victims. We have reports of corpses, "he said. "We can not confirm this information until we go out and see for ourselves."
"We want to tell the citizens of Abaco, in the affected area, that it is dangerous to go outside," said Henfield. "Power lines are down, lampposts, trees on the other side of the street. It is very dangerous to be outside if you do not have to be outside. As soon as time permits, first responders will visit areas where we have reports of people in distress. "
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DORIAN'S ROAD
The National Hurricane Center brought the storm back to Category 4 late Monday morning. As of 2 pm ET, his eye was located about 25 miles northeast of Freeport on Grand Bahama Island and 160 kilometers east of West Palm Beach, Florida.
According to the NHC, wind gusts of up to 190mph would have been reported Monday in the island of Grand Bahama, where a storm surge is expected to bring water "from 18 to 23 feet above normal tide ".
"These dangers will continue on the island of Grand Bahama for most of the day, causing extreme destruction on the island," adds the text.
State Minister Kwasi Thompson told ZNS Bahamas radio station that officials continued to receive a considerable number of appeals from people in distress – including witnesses who reported seeing others. stuck on the roofs of buildings.
However, police chief Samuel Butler urged people to remain calm – and noted that until the storm is over, the authorities will not be able to do much.
"We simply can not reach you," he said.
The next day, Dorian should perform a "slow motion from west to northwest" followed by "a gradual shift to northwest and north," says the NHC.
"The hurricane will move dangerously close to the east coast of Florida tonight until Wednesday night," he added, where a number of warnings and hurricane watches remain in force.
On Sunday, gusty winds from Dorian to the Bahamas reached 220 mph, the record for the most powerful hurricane in the Atlantic ever to land.
Anastacia Makey, 43, at the far right, looks at her phone while she and her family are sitting on beds with other residents inside a church Open as a shelter while they were waiting for Hurricane Dorian at Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas, Sunday, September 1, 2019. Hurricane Dorian has further intensified on Sunday while it's still going strong. it was getting closer to the north of the Bahamas, threatening to hit islands with force 5 winds, waves and torrential rains.
(AP)
DORIAN IS THE STRONGEST STORM NEVER THREATENED THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA
The residents, desperate to be informed of the situation of their relatives, were calling on Monday for a live television broadcast on ZNS, asking presenters for any information they might have heard.
In the United States, the Eyewitness News channel interviewed a grandmother late Sunday, who told her that her 8-year-old grandson had died in the Abacos, probably after drowning.
The videos posted on social media showed cars in the Bahamas submerged by water, houses with torn roofs and communities flooded by the storm.
According to the Associated Press, a spokesman for Bahamas Power and Light said that the entire island of New Providence – the most populous of the country and the tourist destination place of Nassau – was without electricity and that its office in Abacos was torn. .
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Despite the damage, Henfield told ZNS that the citizens of the Bahamas and his government "hold firm.
"We ask you to continue to pray for us," he said.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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