With Gusts Over 220 mph, Dorian Becomes 'Strongest Hurricane In Modern Records For NW Bahamas'
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP/CNN) -- The Bahamas' Abaco Islands have suffered major damage, according to the Hope Town Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, with multiple reports of destroyed houses and roofs blown off.
Hurricane Dorian struck the northern Bahamas as a catastrophic Category 5 storm Sunday, its record 185 mph winds ripping off roofs, overturning cars and tearing down power lines as hundreds hunkered down in schools, churches and shelters.
Dorian slammed into Elbow Cay in Abaco island at 12:40 p.m., and then made a second landfall near Marsh Harbour at 2 p.m., after authorities made last-minute pleas for those in low-lying areas to evacuate.
It is the first time a Category 5 storm has hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
By the evening, the storm's eye was moving over Great Abaco and the National Hurricane Center had forecast that a "prolonged period of catastrophic winds and storm surge will affect the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama Island" Sunday night.
"Everyone there should take immediate shelter and not venture into the eye," the center said.
With gusts over 220 mph, Dorian has become "the strongest hurricane in modern records for the northwestern Bahamas," the hurricane center said.
"It's devastating," said Joy Jibrilu, director general of the Bahamas' Ministry of Tourism and Aviation. "There has been huge damage to property and infrastructure. Luckily, no loss of life reported."
The hurricane was approaching the eastern end of Grand Bahama island in the evening, forecasters said.
WATCH: Desperate Cry For Help Made On Social Media During Hurricane Dorian In Bahamas
The storm is growing, meteorologists said, with hurricane-force winds now extending 45 miles from its eye.
Videos from residents on Great Abaco showed wind bending trees and heavy rain washing out the horizon as thigh-high water flooded an apartment complex.
WATCH: Pleas For Help On Social Media
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, 59, who planned to ride out the hurricane with his family in the concrete home he built 41 years ago in central Abaco.
CBS4News spoke with Miami local Andrea Richardson who has family on the island.
"They're really vulnerable over there so I'm just praying for Gods mercy," said Richardson who added she made calls all day trying to reach each and every family member she has.
It has been a similar situation for Jamal Butler who lives in Miami. He feels his family will be okay.
"They went through Andrew like we went through Andrew so they know how to ride through the storm. They will make it all right," Butler said.
Once the storm finishes deluging the Bahamas it is expected to head west toward Florida, where mandatory evacuations have already begun. But exactly where (or if) it will hit the US East Coast remains unclear.
The northwestern Bahamas are under a hurricane warning, except for Andros Island, which is under a hurricane watch.
Conditions are expected to grow only worse as Dorian stalls over the Bahamas, forecasters say. Some models forecast that it could stay for 24 hours or longer.
In the Bahamas, life-threatening storm surges of 18 to 23 feet could crash into the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, the hurricane center said.
WEB EXTRA: Video From The Bahamas As Storm Surge Rolls In
The northwestern Bahamas also could get 12 to 30 inches of rain, the hurricane center said.
Dorian is expected to move across the Bahamas slowly, creating life-threatening conditions as "rain, winds and storm surge (keep) piling up," hurricane center Director Ken Graham said Saturday.
Dorian's forecast track has shifted east since Friday, making a landfall in Florida less likely but not out of the question.
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