Hurricane Dorian slams Bahamas, 43 feared dead

A Scottish mum living in the Bahamas has told how sharks are swimming through residential areas among floating corpses after Hurricane Dorian decimated the Abaco Islands.

The expat, originally from Ayrshire, said she feels lucky to be alive after witnessing the destruction Dorian has done to the affected area.

She told Daily Record the whole nation is ‘in despair’ and added: “We live across from the beach in Nassau.

“The city’s had flooding but on Grand Abaco, 90 miles away, the towns have been wiped out.

“Sharks are swimming up and around residential areas and corpses are just floating everywhere.

“The death toll is far higher than reports have made out so far. It’s a total disaster.”

The now Category 3 storm made landfall to the Bahamas on Sunday and wreaked havoc with winds reaching 225 mph.

The death toll from Hurricane Dorian has risen to 43, according to media reports late on Friday.

A representative for Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said even that number is expected to rise significantly.

Around 35 people died in the storm on the Abacos Islands and eight in Grand Bahama.

Search and rescue operations are continuing.

It has since shifted northerly towards the Outer Bans of North Carolina, then Cape Hatteras with sustained winds of 90 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm surge inundated the Outer Banks’ Ocracoke Island, cutting off power and submerging many homes and buildings, North Carolina Governor Ray Cooper told reporters.

Floodwaters came halfway up to kitchen countertops and battered fences and boardwalks, according to images on social media.

One island resident uploaded a video on social media showing people driving a speedboat down a flooded street.

“We estimate about 800 people remained on the island during the storm and have heard reports from residents who say the flooding there was catastrophic,” Cooper said.

“We’re thankful not to have reports of serious injury or death since the storm arrived.”

Dorian is expected to bring tropical storm winds to Nantucket Island and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts early on Saturday.

But it will likely spare much of the East Coast the worst of its rain and wind before making landfall in Canada’s Nova Scotia that night, the hurricane center said.

The damage was far less severe than in the Bahamas, where at least 70,000 people were in need of immediate humanitarian relief after Dorian became the most damaging storm ever to hit the island nation.

Of at least four storm-related deaths reported in the United States, three were in Orange County, Florida, during storm preparations or evacuation, the mayor’s office said.