Dorian barrels towards The Bahamas, Florida could be next

MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Dorian has now been upgraded to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm and is now bearing down on the Bahamas.

Further, millions of people in the state of Florida, in the United States, as well as President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, are potentially in the crosshairs of the hurricane.

Forecasters in the US say Dorian, with top sustained winds of 145 mph, is expected to hit the northwestern region of the Bahamas by tomorrow, with the potential for life-threatening storm surge that could raise water levels 15 feet above normal.

Canned food and bottled water disappeared quickly from shelves and the sound of hammering echoed across the islands as people boarded up their homes.

“Do not be foolish and try to brave out this hurricane,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis warned.

“The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life.”

Meteorologists in the US say the powerful storm is expected to hover along Florida’s east coast Tuesday and Wednesday.

But the National Hurricane Centre in Miami cautioned that its meteorologists remain uncertain whether Dorian would make a devastating direct strike on the state’s east coast or inflict a glancing blow.

Some of the more reliable computer models predicted a late turn northward that would have Dorian skirt the Florida coast.

“There is hope,” said Weather Underground meteorology director Jeff Masters, amid fears that Dorian could become the most powerful hurricane to hit Florida’s east coast in nearly 30 years.

An advisory released by the National Hurricane Centre at 8 a.m. today warned that the possibility of “strong winds and life-threatening storm surge” is increasing along Georgia and South Carolina’s coasts.

It showed Dorian hitting near Fort Pierce, located some 70 miles north of Mar-a-Lago, then running along the coastline as it moves north.

Trump has declared a state of emergency in Florida and authorised the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster-relief efforts.

He told reporters that “Mar-a-Lago can handle itself” and that he is more worried about Florida.

“This is big and is growing, and it still has some time to get worse,” Julio Vasquez said at a Miami fast-food joint next to a gas station that had run out of fuel.

“No one knows what can really happen. This is serious.”

As Dorian closed in, plans for the Labour Day weekend in the US were upended.

Major airlines began allowing travellers to change their reservations without fees and major cruise lines began rerouting their ships.

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