Hurricane Dorian weakens slightly but grows in size as it lurches toward U.S.

Hurricane Dorian was moving northwest toward the United States after having virtually stalled over the Bahamas, where it caused devastation and was blamed for at least seven deaths.

A storm surge warning, meanwhile, was extended northward from Florida to about midway up South Carolina’s coast. Much of South Carolina’s coast was under a hurricane warning.

The “extremely dangerous” storm began to move slightly faster at 6 mph early Tuesday evening, although its maximum sustained winds slowed a bit to 110 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

Hurricane Dorian’s eye from aboard the International Space Station on Monday, Sept. 2, 2019.Nick Hague / NASA

It was forecast to move “dangerously close” to the Florida coast late Tuesday through Wednesday evening, the hurricane center said.

By Wednesday night and Thursday, Dorian is expected to move “very near” the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina and could move “near or over” the coast of North Carolina later Thursday.

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North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper activated more than 300 National Guard members and issued evacuation orders for all barrier islands beginning Wednesday.

• The hurricane was moving northwest toward the United States from the Bahamas at 6 mph early Tuesday evening.
• The storm had maximum sustained winds of about 110 mph with higher gusts and had moved north of Grand Bahama Island. Isolated rainfall of more than 30 inches in the northwestern Bahamas could cause “life-threatening flash floods.”
• At least seven people have died in the Abaco Islands, and more deaths are expected, the prime minister said.
• Officials said Dorian was set to come “dangerously close” to Florida’s east coast late Tuesday through Wednesday evening, very near the Georgia and South Carolina coasts on Wednesday night and Thursday and near or over North Carolina’s coast late Thursday.
• Six counties east of Interstate 95 in Georgia were ordered to evacuate, Gov. Brian Kemp said.

“Already, we’ve had some local evacuations and voluntary evacuations, but we know it takes times to get people off of these barrier islands, so we want to begin the process now,” Cooper said Tuesday morning.

Officials in coastal Currituck County officials declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon and issued ordered a mandatory evacuation of the Outer Banks communities of Carolla and Carova to begin early Wednesday.

On Sunday, the governors of South Carolina and Georgia ordered at least 1 million people to evacuate their coasts beginning Monday. Authorities in Florida also ordered mandatory evacuations in some vulnerable coastal areas.

More than 120 shelters in Florida filled with people who decided it was too dangerous to stay home. In South Carolina, emergency management officials tweeted Tuesday that shelters would open across the state.

President Donald Trump has approved emergency declarations for Florida, South Carolina and Georgia. The governors of North Carolina and Virginia have also declared states of emergency.

Dorian headed toward the United States after slamming the Bahamas, where it lingered for more than a day. Video taken in the island nation showed waves crashing into homes and ruined cars strewn about the streets. One resident filmed furniture and other items floating inside their flooded house.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis told reporters on Tuesday night that he had toured Abaco and that the airport was underwater, with the runway completely flooded.

“The area around the airport now looks like a lake,” Minnis said.

Two more people died at hospitals, he said, raising the confirmed death toll to seven.

Minnis said images and videos seen by officials were heartbreaking, with many homes, businesses and other buildings completely or partly destroyed.

The U.S. Coast Guard began rescue operations in the Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas, ZNS Bahamas Radio reported Monday.

Minnis tweeted Tuesday: “We have in place and are putting in place other critical measures to respond as rapidly as possible to reduce any suffering and pain. There are many difficult days, weeks and months ahead of us as a people and as a country.”

More than 13,000 homes on the Abaco Islands and the neighboring Grand Bahama island were damaged or destroyed. About 62,000 people on both islands are in need of fresh water, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Julia Aylen wades through waist-deep floodwaters with her dog as she is rescued from her home during Hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Bahamas, on Tuesday.Tim Aylen / AP

Queen Elizabeth, who acts head of state for the Bahamas, sent her condolences, saying in a statement via Buckingham Palace that she was “shocked and saddened.”

“At this very difficult time, my thoughts and prayers are with those who have seen their homes and property destroyed,” she said.

Although it has been downgraded, Dorian is expected to remain a perilously powerful hurricane for the next couple of days, with “devastating” winds and a “life-threatening” storm surge, the National Hurricane Center said.

The center warned that a tornado or two were also possible near the east coast of Florida through Tuesday night. The risk will then shift to coastal Georgia and the coastal Carolinas on Wednesday into Thursday.

In Southport, North Carolina, Mayor J.V. Dove said early Tuesday that forecasts showed the storm traveling up the coast and not making landfall.

“Still, we are expecting and do expect heavy rainfall, perhaps 10 inches or more, plus tropical storm-force winds, and we’re preparing for that,” Dove said on MSNBC.

“One thing I’ve learned about hurricanes is that a lot of people are very afraid of the winds, but most of our trouble comes from the flooding, the heavy rains that are caused by the hurricanes themselves,” he said.

The National Weather Service in Miami tweeted early Tuesday that coastal flooding had been reported in the city and urged people not to drive through flooded roadways. The weather service in Jacksonville said fast-moving rain bands would produce brief but torrential downpours and up to 30-mph wind gusts.