Hurricane Dorian unleashed massive flooding across the Bahamas Monday, shredding roofs, hurling cars and forcing rescue crews to take shelter.
The National Hurricane Center said by late afternoon Monday, the storm’s top sustained winds fell to 145 mph — down from 185 mph hours earlier — as it inched along on its path of destruction.
Storm surges in some places were raising water levels more than 20 feet above normal.
Authorities urged people to find floating devices as the storm triggered major flooding across Grand Bahama island.
Authorities have so far reported five deaths and at least thirteen thousand homes destroyed.
Though the hurricane center was still forecasting that Dorian would stay just off the U.S. coast as it makes its way up the seaboard, evacuations were ordered for parts of Florida and, later on Monday, the Georgia and South Carolina coasts.
