Hurricane Dorian Death Toll Rises to 20 in Bahamas

Bahamas Health Minister Duane Sands said Wednesday that the death toll for Hurricane Dorian had risen from seven to 20 and more deaths were expected as the storm clears the island archipelago and threatens to make landfall in the U.S. later this week.

Sands confirmed that 17 victims were from the Abaco islands and three were from Grand Bahama, adding that three of the victims died after being transported to a hospital in nearby New Providence. . .

Dorian, which had been downgraded to a Category 2 storm, regained Category 3 strength late Wednesday and was making its way toward the U.S. mainland, traveling close to the east coast of Florida. It was expected to make landfall in the Carolinas on Wednesday night or Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Previously, as a Category 5 hurricane, Dorian slammed the Bahamas this past Sunday, first hitting the Abaco islands and then ravaging Grand Bahama as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane, which is the most powerful to ever hit the island, lingered for nearly two days leaving wreckage and disaster in its wake. . .

The Bahamian government sent hundreds of police officers and marines as well as doctors, nurses and other health care workers to the islands, where the land remained muddy, houses flattened or soddened and debris-strewn across the landscape, to aid the nearly 70,000 residents in the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama who were severely affected by the storm. (Read more from “Hurricane Dorian Death Toll Rises to 20 in Bahamas” HERE)

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