Freeport, Bahamas – The sounds of hammers banging into plywood and cash registers dinging echoed across the Bahamas on Friday as the archipelago that lies just southeast of Florida rushed to prepare for Hurricane Dorian , which threatened to turn into a powerful Category 4 storm.
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The storm is expected to approach the northwest Bahamas on Saturday and then move over or near that region on Sunday.
“Do not be foolish and try to brave out this hurricane,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said in a news conference. “The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life.”
At 2 p.m. EDT on Friday, Dorian was located 445 miles (715 kilometers) east of the northwest Bahamas and about 625 miles (1,005 kilometers) east of West Palm Beach in Florida. It was a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving northwest at 10 mph (17 kph).
A hurricane watch was in effect for northwestern Bahamas as officials closed schools and government offices.
Officials said that between 2,000 to 3,000 people who live in tiny cays in The Abaco Islands need to evacuate and seek higher ground.
“I’m really worried,” said Kevin Adderley, a 48-year-old business owner who was securing his mechanic shop in the city of Freeport in Grand Bahama Island. “I’m going to bunker down home with my kids.”
Supplies like canned food and bottled water were quickly disappearing as long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores on Friday.
“The food store is very packed,” said 47-year-old Gina Davis as she pushed her grocery cart through the aisle. “I’m very concerned because it’s going to be a Category 4 storm. … We pray to God that it don’t do us bad.”
Stephen Russell, director of the island’s National Emergency Management Agency, said major storms have hit the Bahamas for three consecutive years: Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, Matthew in 2016 and Irma in 2017, causing an estimated $80 million in damage.
“We are a resilient nation,” he said in a statement.
(AP)