HURRICANE Dorian is confirmed to have killed at least five people in the Bahamas, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said yesterday as the storm stalled over the island chain, unleashing catastrophic wind and rain.

Addressing a news conference at the national emergency management agency in New Providence, Minnis described the storm as an “historic tragedy” for the archipelago.

The Abaco islands on Sunday received the full brunt of Dorian, which continued yesterday to batter Grand Bahama further to the west.

Meanwhile, the authorities in the hurricane-hammered Bahamas said they are getting many dire-sounding pleas for help.

“Anybody who can help me, this is Kendra Williams. I live in Heritage. We are under water; we are up in the ceiling. 

“Can someone please assist us or send some help. Please.

“Me and my six grandchildren and my son, we are in the ceiling.”

The text message was forwarded to AFP by Yasmin Rigby, a resident of Freeport.

“We’re getting a lot of frantic people calling in,” Don Cornish, the Grand Bahama disaster manager, told NPR.

“They’re very concerned because of the storm surge… We have had persons who are trying to get out in these conditions because they’re desperate because of the level the water has come in their homes.”

Dorian, which arrived as a mammoth category 5 hurricane and settled in over the islands before being downgraded yesterday to a still-dangerous category 4, brought with it devastating winds and torrential downpours.

Potentially most destructive for some of the low-lying islands have been storm surges of 3m-6m or more.  

Rigby said Freeport’s airport and hospital were both under water. Both power and water had gone out. – AFP, September 3, 2019.