Hurricane Dorian threatens the US after devastating the Bahamas where 20 people lost their lives
WEB DESK
After gaining strength, Hurricane Dorian, could make landfall later Thursday into Friday in parts of South Carolina and North Carolina, where more than 1 million people are under mandatory evacuation orders, forecasters said, according to CNN.
Its core is forecast to approach the coast of South Carolina, near Charleston, on Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm is expected to run parallel along the coast of the Carolinas through Friday.
Any deviation to the left could bring the storm’s center onshore, according to the NHC.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper urged residents under evacuation orders to listen to local officials. “Don’t try to ride it out. It’s not worth putting your life at risk, or endangering first responders, who might have to save you.”
The Category 2 is churning in the Atlantic Ocean about 130 miles south of Charleston, with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph — up from 105 mph earlier, the NHC said in its latest advisory.
The hurricane left unprecedented destruction in the Bahamas, but has thus far not caused significant damage along Florida’s coast.
As the storm turns northeast along the US coastline, it could cause devastating flooding in Charleston. The NHC warns of “life-threatening storm surge and dangerous winds, regardless of the exact track of Dorian’s center.”
“This is called the ‘Lowcountry’ for a reason,” former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said. “I mean from here down to basically the Savannah River is exceedingly low land, and we’re prone to coastal flooding generally. You put a storm surge on top of that, (and) it’s real troublesome.”
Death toll rises to 20 as Bahamas lifts Hurricane Dorian warnings
At least 20 people have died in the northern Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian ravaged the area, according to a Washington Post report that cites Bahamian Minister of Health Duane Sands.
The minister told the Post that 17 people have died on Abaco and three on Grand Bahama.
The government in this nation of 400,000 sounded the all-clear from Hurricane Dorian on Wednesday morning, lifting the tropical storm warning for Grand Bahama, the Abacos, Bimini and other battered islands.
As the storm, which slammed into the Bahamas on Sunday as a Category 5 hurricane and spent a devastating 40 hours grinding across Grand Bahama, finally lurched onward to the United States, the full scope of the destruction became clearer.
“We are in the midst of one of the greatest national crises in our country’s history,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said Tuesday night.