When Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas last year, it was the strongest ever to devastate the Caribbean country. Now, meteorologists are trying to learn why some of their forecast models fell short.
Customs and Border Protection says some 4,000 Bahamians relocated to the U.S. after Hurricane Dorian — many of them to South Florida. They're wondering if the U.S. will allow them to stay.
"The number of people registered missing with the Bahamas government is going down daily," a spokesman for NEMA told reporters, adding that many could be unaccounted for in shelters.
P.J. Thomas was an experienced boat captain and harbor pilot who guided some of the world's largest cruise ships to the dock. During the hurricane, he died saving his wife.
"Cash is king. For us to rebuild these communities, we need funds," the president of Rotary International says. The Bahamas' government has also posted a list of desperately needed items.
Ross is under the microscope again — this time for reportedly pressuring government scientists to back President Trump over a misleading tweet about Hurricane Dorian.
"There is no pressure to change the way we communicate forecast risk in the future," acting NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs said at the National Weather Association's annual meeting in Huntsville, Ala.
"Anywhere we could put a warehouse has been destroyed by floodwaters and may not be safe for storing supplies," one aid group says of the widespread destruction brought by Hurricane Dorian.
It "was not based on science but on external factors including reputation and appearance, or simply put, political," the agency's acting chief scientist wrote.
After Hurricane Dorian devastated two islands in the northern Bahamas, people are debating whether to leave their homes. On hard-hit Abaco Island, people are discovering it's not a clear-cut decision.
One islander who was saved described Dorian this way: "It was like being in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome mixed with the Wizard of Oz," she said. "The noise, the intensity was just outrageous."
Eyewitness images and satellite pictures show oil that seeped from tanks at a major storage terminal on the island's eastern side. The terminal's owner says it was damaged by Hurricane Dorian.
With maximum sustained winds of about 90 mph, Dorian was a Category 1 storm when its eye crossed over Cape Hatteras. It is now moving northeast at 17 mph.
Some areas of the Bahamas are still only reachable by helicopter or small watercraft, like jet skis. The official death toll is 20, but it's expected to rise as search efforts continue.
The Category 2 hurricane is just off the coast, and its heavy winds and rains are hammering the Southeast. "If you don't need to be out," South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster says, "don't go out."
Evacuating away from a hurricane is difficult for elderly people who are ill, don't have access to transportation or live on a fixed income. Slow, rainy storms such as Dorian are particularly tough.
Dorian is roughly 105 miles off the shore of Fort Pierce, Fla. It has maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour. Officials in the Bahamas say there are at least five storm-related deaths.
The storm has slowed as it passes over the Bahamas, battering the islands. It's expected to move west and north, grazing Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, but the track is less solid than usual.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A southern Nevada water-rescue team has been activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is deploying to Florida to be in position to respond to Hurricane Dorian.
The prime minister said five people were killed on Abaco Island. The Category 3 storm sustains 125 mph winds with "life-threatening" storm surge levels expected on Florida's east coast by late Monday.
