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The Day After: northern Bahamas devastated by Hurricane Dorian – first aerial surveys

First aerial surveys are being conducted in the northern Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian ploughed through. It spent two full days grinding the islands with major hurricane force winds, peaking at CAT5 and 185 mph (298 km/h). Extremely severe winds combined with a massive storm surge, reaching as much as 8 m high. The devastation in the wake of Dorian looks like the aftermath of a nuclear blast.


Abaco Island was hit by the full brunt of the massive CAT5 monster, with 185 mph (298 km/h), while Grand Bahama island received slightly lesser 145-175 mph (233-282 km/h) winds, but this was offset by Dorian coming to a halt over the central part of the island and grinding it with intense winds for 36 hours! The entire region was also inundated by a storm surge up to 6-8 m high. Indeed, spaceborne cloud-penetrating radar imagery shows large parts of Grand Bahama completely submerged while under the hurricane.

Devastating storm surge on Grand Bahama island: satellite image of Freeport before Dorian (top) and satellite radar image during storm surge (bottom). Only the old town is reported to have remained above the storm surge. Large parts of the island were submerged. Image: @Rankinstudio / @ReedTimmerAccu TW


Aerial surveys show the chilling reality of the aftermath of Dorian: much of infrastructure and housing on both islands destroyed, leveled to the ground in some areas.



Also see video reports by people trapped on both islands while getting hit by Dorian:

24 hours of Hurricane Dorian: Grand Bahama devastated – reports

From the grinder: Grand Bahama devastated by Hurricane Dorian