‘A Disastrous Outcome’: In Bahamas, Hurricane Cripples Rescue Efforts

Her sister, cornered by rising water, children in tow, cried for help on social media. Ms. deGregory began to post as well, offering addresses and details to rescuers on Twitter.

“I was terrified,” she said. “It was an indescribable feeling.”

On Tuesday, many residents faced the terrifying choice between staying in their rapidly-flooding homes or plunging into the volatile waters to seek shelter.

Tim Aylen, a Grand Bahama resident, waded through chest-deep storm surges with his wife and young son, spurred on by fear and horror. He barely had time to make the decision to flee.

“You open the door, and the water’s just pouring in,” he said. “You think, ‘No, that’s going to flood the house.’”

In that frantic moment, he made the call to leave the house, rather than flee to the attic. With their belongings in bags, his family and their three dogs forded the rushing water.

“We have experienced a lot of hurricanes in our time, but nothing like this,” he said.

Mr. Aylen said that once his family was secured in a nearby shelter, he assisted with the search and rescue of people torn from their homes.

“This little girl, she just jumped into my arms and she was screaming,” he recalled.

Sam Teicher, an American who moved to Grand Bahama Island 18 months ago to set up a coral farm saw his project destroyed by the storm. It was meant to restore dying reefs near the island.

On Tuesday Mr. Teicher saw firsthand the wreckage left by Dorian.

“The water seemed to stretch for miles,” Mr. Teicher said. “It was kind of like looking at those scenes of bayous with the trees coming out of the swamp — except that’s where people live.”