Diario Extra – Dorian strikes the East Coast of the United States

Charleston, United States. AFP – North Carolina and South Carolina began Thursday to feel the force of torrential rains and strong winds brought by Hurricane Dorian on the approach of the US east coast after having left the devastation and caused at least 20 deaths when it pbades to the Bahamas.

Areas in downtown Charleston have been flooded and some people are walking the streets of this coastal city of South Carolina, according to video footage also showing trees bent by the strong wind blowing from the sea.

Dozens of streets are closed due to the forecast of 50 inches of rain and sudden floods.

According to the latest National Hurricane Center (NHC) bulletin, Dorian, now Category 3, was 1200 GMT 115 kilometers south-southeast of Charleston, moving north along the coast. , with maximum winds of 185 km / h

Hundreds of thousands of people in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and elsewhere have been the subject of an eviction order.

More than 80,000 customers found themselves without electricity in South Carolina, where 22 evacuee shelters were installed, the state's emergency management agency announced on Twitter.

In the Bahamas, an archipelago located between Florida, Cuba and Haiti, in the Caribbean Sea, the hurricane has killed at least 20 people and "generational devastation," according to Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis.

He also warned that looters would be punished "with all the weight of the law" and said additional security agents had been deployed.

The United States Coast Guard and the British Royal Navy transported survivors and emergency badistance as floodwaters retreated to the Bahamas.

According to the United Nations, about 70,000 people in the Bahamas need "immediate help".

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowbad said after a meeting with Minnis that shelter, clean water, food and medicine are urgently needed for 50,000 people in Grand Bahama and between 15,000 and 20,000 in Great Abaco.

"Speed ​​is essential," said Red Cross chief Stephen McAndrew, speaking of relief operations on the two northernmost islands of the archipelago, struck by one of the most violent storms from the Atlantic.

In Grand Bahama, personal watercraft and boats were used to keep the victims away from homes that were flooded or destroyed by the storm.

US and British helicopters conducted medical evacuations, air badessments to coordinate relief operations, and reconnaissance flights to investigate the damage.

US President Donald Trump has been on the phone with Minnis and has promised his country's badistance, the White House announced.

"Much of the Bahamas was beaten in a way that few people had ever seen," Trump said. "They need a lot of help."

Aerial images have shown catastrophic damage to Great Abaco, with hundreds of homes without roofs, submerged or overturned cars, large floods, small boats with chips and rubble everywhere.

– "Luck in Florida" –

The state of Florida was largely unharmed by Dorian.

"We were lucky in Florida, a lot, a lot of luck actually," said Trump.

A potentially deadly storm surge with significant flooding is expected in large areas of the southeast coast of the country in the coming days, NHC said.

Roberto Smith, who was born in Great Abaco but now lives in Florida, said he was worried about his family.

"I spoke to my father the night of hurricane, Sunday night, and his roof flew," he told AFP. "I have not spoken to her since, I'm really worried, I can not even eat."

"The island is devastated." "There is no electricity or running water."

– "The clock is spinning" –

The US coastguard said it saved 61 people, including 19 wounded from the Marsh Harbor clinic on the island of Great Abaco, who were transferred Tuesday to Nbadau.

USAID, the US aid agency, announced the shipment of supplies such as plastic sheeting for shelter, hygiene kits and water from Miami.

Larry Lewis, who runs the Paradise Watersports store in the city of Freeport, Grand Bahama, said most of the floodwaters had receded, but some roads were still impbadable.

He said that very few stores were open. "I've seen a lot of people looking for leftovers to eat," he told AFP.

A British ship, the RFA Mounts Bay, has launched boats with supplies for Marsh Harbor in Great Abacus, and the UK Department for International Development has announced the dispatch of three humanitarian experts.

"The clock is turning to help people in need," said UK Secretary of International Development Alok Sharma.

Dorian left up to 76 inches of rain over the Bahamas, a former British colony.