Hurricane Dorian thrashing Bahamas as Florida starts to feel effects of Category 5 storm

Sep. 2--Hurricane Dorian continued its assault on the Bahamas overnight with Category 5 winds, making a slow westward move that was forecast to bring the dangerous storm up the east coast of Florida.

The storm is blamed for at least one death, according to the Bahamas Press, with several people missing as the storm slammed into Great Abaco and Grand Bahama Island on Sunday as the largest hurricane the Bahamas had ever endured in modern history. It grew Sunday to 185 mph sustained winds with 220 mph gusts.

In its 9 a.m. update, the National Hurricane Center said Hurricane Dorian maximum sustained winds had dropped to 165 mph with 200 mph gusts. The storm remains over Grand Bahama Island, about 30 miles east of Freeport, Grand Bahama and about 115 miles east of West Palm Beach. The cone of uncertainty still includes much of east Central Florida including downtown Orlando.

-- Hurricane Dorian News

Hurricane Dorian impact: Here's what to expect in Central Florida

By Lisa Maria Garza and Roger Simmons

Sep 01, 2019 -- 4:29 PM

"The official track released this morning has not changed much compared to what we saw on Sunday," said WOFL-Fox 35 meteorologist Kristin Giannas. "It doesn't show landfall in Florida. However, it's still a possibility. Dorian can move even closer or over the East Coast. At this point, we're waiting for Dorian to move over the Grand Bahama Island and make that turn to the north."

Fox 35 meteorologist Jayme King said some of the forecast models that feed the hurricane center's official track still bring the storm center within 40 miles of shore and even one projects landfall near Cape Canaveral.

"A landfall is not out of the question," King said discussing the Global Forecast Systems (GFS) model for the storm path. "That is my fear. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but we're seeing the modeling now at least on that particular model veering a little closer to the shoreline and possibly passage either on top of the peninsula or within 40 miles or less with very damaging winds along the coast and even for the interior."

Dorian has slowed to westward movement of only 1 mph, and forecasters expect the storm to continue to hammer away at the northwestern Bahamas much of today.

Videos of damage have surfaced online showing demolished structures and debris strewn across the landscape in Hope Town on Elbow Cay in the Bahamas.

On Sunday, dramatic video posted by Twitter user mvp242 showed an apartment roof ripped off on Great Abaco as the massive hurricane tore through, and a woman pleaded, "Please pray for us. Pray for Abaco. I'm begging you."

The Bahamas Press reported that the first death from Hurricane Dorian was a 7-year-old boy, Lachino Mcintosh, who drowned after his family attempted to relocate from their home. The news outlet also reported the boy's sister is missing.

The storm's power has diminished slightly as it passes over the Bahamas islands.

"During the next few days, Dorian should be encountering some increase in shear, which will likely result in weakening," said forecasters "However it is anticipated that the system will remain a dangerous major hurricane for the next several days."

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from the storm's center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles, the hurricane center said.

The hurricane center warned that the coast of east Central Florida could see a threat of tornadoes forming later today as well as storm surge from 2 to 7 feet.

The Coast Guard changed Port Canaveral's status to Zulu as of 8 a.m., meaning it's closed to all boats and ships, regardless of size or service, and all vessels more than 500 gross tons are prohibited from remaining in the port.

A hurricane warning remains in effect from Jupiter Inlet in Palm Beach County to the Volusia-Flagler county line including all of all of Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties. A hurricane watch extends north the entire coast of Florida to the mouth of the St. Mary's River in Georgia as well as south from Jupiter Inlet to Deerfield Beach.

Tropical storm warnings are in place from Deerfield Beach to Jupiter Inlet as well as all of Osceola County. Palm Beach County already experiencing gusts near 50 mph.

In addition tropical storm watches have been issued for Polk, Orange, Lake, Seminole, Sumter, inland Volusia counties.

"A slower westward to west-northwestward motion is forecast during the next day or so, followed by a gradual turn toward the northwest," forecasters said. "The hurricane will move dangerously close to the Florida east coast late Monday through Tuesday night."

Dorian made its first landfall at 12:40 p.m. Sunday at Elbow Cay, Abaco, and then its "extremely distinct eye" made second landfall at about 2 p.m. on Great Abaco Island near Marsh Harbour as it "headed with all its fury toward Grand Bahama" at a westward clip of 7 mph as of the 5 p.m. Sunday update, the National Hurricane Center said.

"Large and destructive waves" are expected on Florida's coast once Dorian does arrive, according to forecasters.

"Surge-related flooding depends on ... how close the center of Dorian comes to the Florida east coast, and can vary greatly over short distances."

Hurricane Dorian: Live updates from around Florida

The monster storm, tied for the strongest Atlantic hurricane landfall on record with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, ripped off roofs, overturned cars and tore down power lines in the Bahamas as hundreds hunkered in schools, churches and other shelters in the Bahamas.

There was little information from the affected islands, though officials expected many residents to be left homeless. Most people went to shelters as the storm approached, with tourist hotels shutting down and residents boarded up their homes.

"It's devastating," Joy Jibrilu, director general of the Bahamas' Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, said Sunday afternoon. "There has been huge damage to property and infrastructure."

Video that Jibrilu and government spokesman Kevin Harris said was sent by Abaco residents showed homes missing parts of roofs, electric lines on the ground and smashed and overturned cars. One showed floodwaters rushing through the streets of an unidentified town at nearly the height of a car roof.

In some parts of Abaco, "you cannot tell the difference as to the beginning of the street versus where the ocean begins," Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said. According to the Nassau Guardian, he called it "probably the most sad and worst day of my life to address the Bahamian people."

Bahamas radio station ZNS Bahamas reported that a mother and child on Grand Bahama had called to say they were sheltering in a closet and seeking help from police.

Silbert Mills, owner of the Bahamas Christian Network, said trees and power lines were torn down in Abaco.

"The winds are howling like we've never, ever experienced before," said Mills, who was riding out the hurricane with his family in the concrete home he built 41 years ago on central Abaco.

Jack Pittard, a 76-year-old American who has visited the Bahamas for 40 years, also decided to stay put on Abaco for Dorian, which he said was his first hurricane. A short video from Pittard about 2:30 p.m. Sunday showed the wind shaking his home and ripping off the siding.

The Bahamas archipelago is no stranger to hurricanes. Homes are required to have metal reinforcements for roof beams to withstand winds into the upper limits of a Category 4 hurricane, and compliance is generally tight for those who can afford it. Risks are higher in poorer neighborhoods, with wooden homes in low-lying areas.

Mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying and flood-prone areas and mobile homes were in effect starting either Sunday or Monday from Palm Beach County north to at least the Daytona Beach area, and some counties to the north issued voluntary evacuation notices. Weekend traffic was light in Florida despite those orders, unlike during the chaotic run-up to Hurricane Irma in 2017 when the unusually broad storm menaced the entire state.

Ken Graham, director of the hurricane center, urged people not to bet on safety just because the forecast track had the storm a bit offshore. With every new forecast, "we keep nudging (Dorian's track) a little bit to the left" -- that is, is closer to the Florida coast, Graham said.

President Donald Trump already declared a state of emergency and was briefed about what he called a "monstrous" storm.

"We don't know where it's going to hit but we have an idea, probably a little bit different than the original course," Trump said. "But it can change its course again and it can go back more toward Florida."

Florida Gov. DeSantis' warnings to Floridians about Hurricane Dorian grew more dire Sunday, as he also ordered the suspension of tolls.

"It's important for people to understand if you're in an evacuation zone and you're given an order to evacuate, please heed that call," DeSantis said during a briefing at the state Emergency Operations Center. "This storm at this magnitude could really cause massive destruction, and do not put your life in jeopardy by staying behind when you have a chance to get out. "While the projected consensus path has the storm, whose minimum central pressure fell again slightly to 910 mb as of 5 p.m., staying offshore, the three-day cone of uncertainty jogged somewhat more inland overnight to now include all of metro Orlando including Walt Disney World.

DeSantis on Sunday afternoon ordered the suspension of all tolls, effective immediately, along State Road 528 (the BeachLine Expressway), Alligator Alley, the Sawgrass Expressway (State Road 869) and Florida's Turnpike, including the Homestead Extension (State Road 821).

DeSantis also received a request from Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings to suspend tolls along State Road 408, 417 and 429, which he approved. Read more about toll suspensions here.

In addition to Trump, DeSantis had calls with the governors of Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday, as well as local government officials, legislators and NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster ordered a mandatory evacuation of the entire coast of the state amid Dorian's expected threat to his state. The order, which covers about 830,000 people, goes into effect at noon Monday, when state troopers will begin reversing lanes so they all head inland on major coastal highways.

"We can't make everybody happy," McMaster said. "But we believe we can keep everyone alive."

"Florida still falls within the cone of uncertainty & this monstrous storm can change course at any time," Sen. Rick Scott said on Twitter midday Sunday. "Floridians MUST stay vigilant & informed. It's far better to be over-prepared than under-prepared."

The hurricane upended some Labor Day holiday weekend plans in the U.S.: Major airlines allowed travelers to change reservations without fees, big cruise lines rerouted their ships and Cumberland Island National Seashore off Georgia closed to visitors. Disney World and Orlando's other resorts held off announcing any closings.

The path has shifted several times since Thursday with projected landfalls suggesting it would slam into Florida as far south as West Palm Beach and as far north as Flagler Beach. Its path all day Friday had it targeting Orlando, but the various computer models kept shifting the path farther east.

Saturday's overall shift in where the storm was predicted to go, though, had some dialing back their levels of alert.

Hurricane Dorian doesn't deter Disney, Universal visitors

Eleven shelters opened Sunday at 8 a.m. and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said he expects residents from coastal communities in Brevard and Volusia counties to seek safety in those facilities.

Orlando International Airport, which had previously planned to close at 2 a.m. Monday, changed course and now plans to remain open while officials keep an eye on the storm, according to a statement. Orlando Sanford International Airport said it is lifting its previously planned closure at midnight Sunday and "will continue normal operations until further notice."

Parking fees will be waived in downtown Orlando garages starting at noon Monday for those looking for an alternative place to park their vehicles.

The Orlando Utilities Commission warned Sunday afternoon that power outages are "likely" in Orange and Osceola counties.

Hurricane Dorian wrecks Labor Day break at Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral

SunRail still plans to be shut down through Friday, and Amtrak has canceled multiple trains through Tuesday. Lynx hasn't announced any cancellations, but its buses will not run in sustained winds of 35 mph or more.

Brevard County is set to begin mandatory evacuations from its barrier islands on Monday, DeSantis said, and other counties will have voluntary or partial evacuations, including Osceola, Martin, Glades and Hendry counties. But as the forecast tracks shift, evacuation orders may change, DeSantis said.

Hurricane Dorian's path causes class shuffling, closures at area colleges

On Friday, every Central Florida school system canceled classes for Tuesday, as did area colleges and universities. UCF said Sunday that it will remain closed through Wednesday.

The Orlando VA Healthcare System is cancelling all appointments for Tuesday at its outpatient clinics in Viera, Daytona Beach, Lake Baldwin, Lake Nona, Deltona, Clermont, Tavares, and Kissimmee. All outpatient clinic appointments will also be cancelled at the Daytona Beach and Viera clinics on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, forecasters were watching two disturbances in the Atlantic and one in the Gulf of Mexico.

Staff writers Tiffini Theisen, Lisa Maria Garza, Tess Sheets, Dave Harris, Stephen Hudak, Roger Simmons, Matt Palm, Cristobal Reyes, Ryan Gillespie, Naseem Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

___

(c)2019 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)

Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.