Hurricane Dorian speeds up and grows after pummeling Bahamas

MIAMI — Hurricane Dorian began its long-awaited north turn Tuesday morning, a move that is likely to spare Florida’s coast the brunt of the now Category 2 storm’s winds and storm surge.

The turn also offers some relief for the Bahamas, which saw the worst impacts of a record-breaking storm that stalled out over the islands and rained destruction for most of Monday. At least five people were killed in the relentless winds and two-story storm surge over the weekend, and the stalled out storm stymied relief efforts underway in Florida and beyond.

As of the 2 p.m. EDT update from the National Hurricane Center, Dorian was 100 miles away from Fort Pierce with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour. The storm may be weakening, but its wind field is growing larger, increasing the risk of high winds and dangerous storm surge to more inland areas of the eastern seaboard.

The storm’s movement was still not fast — just 2 miles an hour — but hurricane-force winds extended 60 miles from the center of the system, and tropical-storm-force winds whipped up to 175 miles from the core.

The Florida coast from Jupiter Inlet to Ponte Vedra Beach is expected to start feeling hurricane conditions Tuesday night as the storm passes off shore. A hurricane warning remained in place for that stretch of Florida.

By Friday morning, at 2 a.m., the forecast has Dorian coming dangerously close to the shores of North Carolina, still as a hurricane. “Dorian is expected to remain a powerful hurricane during the next couple of days,” the hurricane center wrote in its latest advisory.

Hurricane Dorian spent most of Labor Day parked over Grand Bahama, lashing the island with winds topping 145 mph and 12 to 18 feet of storm surge.

The ferocious storm ripped off roofs, flooded shelters and killed at least five people. Horrifying video shared on social media showed murky brown waters battering at people’s windows, invading the first floor of their homes and, in one case, lapping at the floor of someone’s attic.

The U.S. Coast Guard had already rescued 19 people from a medical clinic in Marsh Harbour in the Abaco islands, evacuating them by helicopter to Nassau. The Coast Guard said it was resuming its rescue efforts at dawn on Tuesday.

The Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance was mobilizing aid for the Bahamian government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Relief efforts for the devastated Bahamas have already begun, including with the help from some of the Bahamian communities in South Florida. “We are in urgent need of help,” Bahamas consul general Linda Mackey said Tuesday morning at a news conference alongside county leaders, including Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Hurricane Dorian’s wrath won’t be fully felt on Florida’s coast as it skirts the shore in the next few days, but state officials said they are still watching for storm surges and flooding in northeast counties along the storm’s path.

The National Weather Service’s Miami office said Miami-Dade and Broward Counties could see winds from 20 to 30 miles per hour on Tuesday, with gusts up to 40 mph. Both counties —plus Palm Beach —are under coastal flood advisories.

At a Tuesday morning briefing at the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, forecasters said they had largely ruled out major hurricane conditions in Florida that could cause substantial structural damage but that they were watching as Dorian’s outer bands began to sweep over the Treasure Coast and further north.

Kevin Guthrie, the deputy director of the state’s emergency management division, said parts of the coast had already begun to see Dorian’s impact, including some dune breaches in Flagler County. State officials are also monitoring the St. Johns River for potential flooding in the next few days.

Ashley Davis, director of operations, said the state may also start looking to send resources to states farther north that may also be brushed by Dorian’s path. But he urged responders to remain prepared for the worst-possible scenario.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so frustrated in my career with a hurricane,” he said. “I’ll feel a lot better when (Dorian’s) off Florida’s seaboard.”

Mandatory evacuation orders remained in place for the coastal areas of 13 eastern counties which have opened 85 shelters, including 22 special needs shelters with 673 special needs clients.

At the beach in Boca Raton, shutters remained up on many of condos lining the beach. People still milled about the sand, watching the swelling seas.

The monster storm about 100 miles off shore didn’t stop Chris Bal, 31, who drove up from Fort Lauderdale to surf. “I’m thankful it didn’t come this way. It’s not fun to go through storms. We dodged a bullet,” he said. “And I drove up because I knew the wind was coming from the west so there wasn’t too much danger.”

Watching from the lifeguard stand was Alice Pearce, accompanied by her mini Goldendoodle named Percy. Over the past week, Pearce considered evacuating, as she did two years ago during Irma, when she fled to North Carolina.

“But there was no point,” Pearce said. “During Irma it was a hellacious drive. I just came to see the waves, they’re kind of fun to watch. I had to prepare, but I’m glad we didn’t evacuate.”