The NHC public advisory stressed that “users are reminded that the hurricane is not a point, and that life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds extend far from the center. On 4 September, the core of Hurricane Dorian moved parallel to the Florida east coast and the Georgia coast and its centre is forecast to move near or over the coast of South Carolina and North Carolina Thursday through Friday. It was caught in weak steering currents between high pressure ridges to its east and northwest and a trough to its north. The United Nations will continue supporting the Government-led ongoing rescue and relief efforts,” said a statement from Antonio Guterres.ĭorian was one of the slowest-moving cyclones ever recorded. “The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the terrible devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian, which is still impacting the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The Secretary-General expresses solidarity with the people and the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The main airports on the islands were flooded, with the storm surge reaching up to the roof of many houses. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies reported that as many as 13,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed. Much research is being conducted into the relationship between climate change and tropical cyclones. Mozambique, for instance, was hit by back-to-back cyclones in March and April 2019, threatening to reverse advances in socio-economic development. Low-lying coastal areas are vulnerable to the impacts of tropical cyclones caused by rainfall, waves and, particular, storm surge which is aggravated by sea level rise as a result of climate change. The experience of the Bahamas mirrors that of other Caribbean islands such as Dominica and Puerto Rico which are still recovering from the devastation inflicted by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. A massive rescue and relief operation revealed the extent of the destruction, with warnings that Dorian has caused billions of dollars worth of damage. With hundreds if not thousands of people unaccounted for several days after the disaster, the death toll was expected to soar. National Hurricane Center which acts as a WMO Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC Miami) and provides hurricane forecasts and products for the entire region, and issued constant updates on the dangers of this storm. It finally made landfall over Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on 6 September and then moved quickly northeastward into the Atlantic, according to the U.S. Satellite and aerial images showed unprecedented flooding and destruction in the worst affected islands - Abaco and Grand Bahama.ĭorian weakened progressively to a category 2 hurricane as it finally moved away from the Bahamas, but then strengthened again along the east coast of the U.S. It intensified rapidly into a top-level Category 5 on 1 September and then remained stationary over the Caribbean nation, with destructive winds, storm surge and rain.Īt its peak, Dorian had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (297 km/h), and brought a storm surge of 18 to 23 feet (5.5 to 7 meters) above normal tide levels. Dorian remained stationary, thus exacerbating the impacts of the hazards – wind, rain, waves and storm surge. Hurricane Dorian, the strongest hurricane on record to hit the Bahamas, wreaked massive devastation and loss of life.
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