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24 hours of Hurricane Dorian: Grand Bahama devastated – reports

Hurricane Dorian has set its sights on Grand Bahama island, almost seemingly intent on erasing it from the map. It slowly moved across the eastern part of the island, then stalling over the central part – initially a Category 5 system, slowly weakening to a still major Category 3 system. Some areas of the island were exposed to maximum winds for over 12 hours, far longer than typical for hurricane landfalls. Additionaly, major storm surge inundated large parts of the island. Reports indicate total devastation, with buildings in some areas levelled to the ground. We look at the first reports and videos from the area.

Storm surge locally reached 6-7 m, inundating large parts of Grand Bahama. Satellite radar imagery indicated more than half the area around Freeport was under water.


Dorian was already moving very slowly while crossing the eastern part of Grand Bahama, grinding to a complete halt over the central part and persisting there for many hours.




Video reports show violent winds and extremely high storm surge, pushing people into higher stories of buildings or even just under the roof: