Hurricane Dorian has already killed 20 people in the Bahamas and is gaining strength

The number of deaths due to the hurricane can still increaseDuane Sands, Bahamas' health minister, said efforts to rescue and explore flooded homes had just begun.

The fear was palpable throughout the archipelago. "I have no news of five of the 14 people working for me," said Robert Neher, owner of a fishing hut in the east of Grand Bahama Island. "These people have nothing, none of them are insecure," he lamented.

Dorian has destroyed 60% of the port of Marsh, the main city of the Abaco Islands, according to Prime Minister Hubert Minnis. The airport was flooded and the whole area looked like a lake.

About 70,000 people need immediate help in the Bahamas, said United Nations Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowbad.

The organization has released $ 1 million, Lowbad told reporters in a phone call from Nbadau, and spoke of the need to provide food, water, shelter and medicine to those affected.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis described the situation as "one of the country's biggest crises in history". The aerial images show catastrophic damage, with hundreds of homeless homes, cars being dropped, huge floods and debris everywhere. At Nbadau Airport, submerged by the noise of helicopters from the rescue helicopter, ambulances were waiting for the arrival of the wounded to transfer them to hospitals.

"All we have, we had, is on this island," said Meghan Bootle, a 21-year-old student from Nbadau whose family lives north of Great Abaco Island. "We had nothing left."

Stephen McAndrew, Deputy Regional Director for the Americas at the IFRC, said "speed is essential" for rescue operations. "Now that Dorian is moving away from the Bahamas, there is a window of opportunity to save lives and start alleviating the suffering of these communities," he said in a statement.

The American president, Donald TrumpHe added that the archipelago had asked for help from his country. "Much of the Bahamas was beaten in a way that few people had ever seen," Trump said. "They need a lot of help." Dorian, who reached category 5 (the highest performance), lost strength until 2 hours, but returned at 3 am Wednesday. With winds of 185 km / h, Dorian was at 03:00 GMT 170 kilometers south of Charleston, South Carolina, and moved north at 11 km / h.

"It's a very unpredictable hurricane, very slow and very powerful," warned Trump. "But we are very well prepared."

The National Hurricane Center, based in Miami, has warned of a flood of water in these states, calling the situation potentially dangerous.

In Folly Beach, South Carolina, George Hubbard, 41, said he thought the winds "will not be too strong". "I am more worried about the floods," he said.

Authorities have declared state of emergency on much of the east coast of the country. The Pentagon, meanwhile, said 5,000 National Guard members and 2,700 military personnel on duty were ready to intervene if necessary.