UPDATE: Residents, tourists move to shelters as Bahamas braces for Dorian

McLEAN’S TOWN CAY, Bahamas (AP) — Authorities in The Bahamas have evacuated most of the northern shore and low-lying areas as the powerful Category 4 storm Dorian bears down.

Most of the major hotel resorts have also shuttered their operations.

Forecasters expect Dorian, with winds of up to 150 mph, to hit northwestern Bahamas on Sunday before curving upward.

It is expected to unleash torrents of rain and howling winds but was projected to spin farther away from the coast of the United States Southeast next week.

On its current path, forecasters say the storm could spare the US a direct hit, but still threatens Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas with powerful winds and rising ocean water that could cause deadly flooding.

Tourists remaining in The Bahamas were sent to government shelters in schools, churches and other buildings that offered protection from the storm.

Most residents heeded the warnings and evacuated their homes.

“My home is all battened up, and I’m preparing right now to leave in a couple of minutes. We’re not taking no chances,” said Margaret Bassett, 55, a ferry boat driver for the Deep Water Cay resort.

“They said evacuate, you have to evacuate. It’s for the best interests of the people.”

Some indicated, however, that they would ride out the storm.

“Hoping for the best, that the storm passes and everybody is safe until we return home,” fisherman Tyrone Mitchell said.

“All the ladies and children evacuated, and we have about six or seven men that (will) ride out the storm.”

Over the next two or three days, the hurricane could dump as much as 4 feet of rain and unleash devastating winds that could trigger an abnormal and dangerous rise in sea level, says private meteorologist Ryan Maue.

Prime Minister of The Bahamas Hubert Minnis warned in a nationally televised briefing that “Hurricane Dorian is a devastating, dangerous storm approaching our islands.”

Small rowing boats rented by Bahamas authorities ferried residents between outlying fishing communities and McLean’s Town, a settlement of a few dozen homes on the eastern end of Grand Bahama.

Most of the residents were coming from Sweeting Cay, a fishing town of a few hundred people that is about 5 feet above sea level and was expected to be left completely underwater.

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