'Catastrophic' Dorian strikes Bahamas with full fury

Hurricane Dorian blasted the northern Bahamas as a monster Category 5 storm on Sunday, pummeling the low-lying island chain with torrential rains and winds of a violence unprecedented in its history.

Packing winds of 185 miles per hour (295 kilometers per hour), Dorian made landfall twice in the Bahamas' Abaco Islands, and was tied for the second most powerful hurricane ever in the Atlantic basin, the National Weather Service said.

Footage posted on social media showed major destruction. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Parts of the Abaco Islands were reported to be under water as forecasters warned it was facing a towering 18 to 23 foot storm surge. Winds were gusting over 220 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Video posted on the website of the Bahamian newspaper Tribune 242 showed water up to the roofs of wooden houses in what appeared to be a coastal town. Capsized boats floated in muddy brown water dotted with wooden boards, tree branches and other debris.

In other social media footage of what appears to be an inland area, cars were smashed or turned over, telephone poles and trees were snapped like twigs and debris filled the yards of severely damaged homes. AFP could not immediately confirm the authenticity of any of this footage.

Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis broke down in tears as he addressed a news conference, calling it "probably the most sad and worst day of my life," the Nassau Guardian reported.

"We're facing a hurricane... one that we've never seen in the history of the Bahamas," he said.

Footage shot in Cooper's Town, Abaco and obtained by AFP showed waves crashing violently onshore, sending up huge clouds of spray along the coastline.

Local radio reported that people were calling for help after winds blew the roof off the Island Breezes Hotel in Marsh Harbour, a commercial hub in the Abacos.

"Things are really starting to rock and roll," a post on the Facebook page of the Hope Town Bulletin in Abacos said at 10:00 am local time. 

As of 2200 GMT, the storm was 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Freeport on the island of Grand Bahama and moving slowly west.

In Grand Bahama, thousands have evacuated to get out of Dorian's predicted path.

"It feels like we are standing in a line waiting for a beating," Yasmin Rigby, a resident of Freeport, the island's main city, told AFP. 

Watch: Weather expert on Hurricane Dorian

- Strongest storm to hit Bahamas -

The NHC said Dorian had become "the strongest hurricane in modern records for the northwestern Bahamas."

Describing "catastrophic" conditions in the Abacos Islands, it said the storm was "heading with all its fury towards Grand Bahama," where it was expected Sunday night into Monday.

NHC director Ken Graham on Facebook Live said the Bahamas would be under major hurricane conditions for a punishing 30 hours or more.

"That's major hurricane winds, that's storm surge of 10 and even 20 feet in some of those areas," he said. "That's also torrential rainfall of 15 to 20 inches, isolated 30 inches."

In Washington, US President Donald Trump met with his emergency management chiefs and declared "this looks monstrous."

"We expect that much of the eastern seaboard will be ultimately impacted and some of it very, very severely," he said.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for parts of the Florida coast, and residents up and down the Atlantic coast braced for a brush with danger.

Florida issued its first evacuation orders in parts of Palm Beach, home of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, and Martin Counties.

'Very great danger'

Kevin McAleenan, acting homeland security secretary, said hurricane force winds could hit Florida, followed by a prolonged rain event combined with a storm surge.

"That's going to be very difficult as the storm starts to move northward, mostly like, up the coast of Florida and toward Georgia and South Carolina," he said on ABC's "This Week."

While Miami appeared likely to be largely spared, 30-year-old David Duque, picking up sandbags there on Saturday, noted that "everything could change... I know it could be a scare, but better prepare instead of doing nothing."

The Florida National Guard said roughly 2,000 service members had been mobilized, with another 2,000 poised to join them.

'Absolute monster'

Trump has declared a federal state of emergency in Florida, authorizing US assistance to supplement state and local efforts.

Following a similar state order in Florida, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency Saturday, saying, "Given the strength and unpredictability of the storm, we must prepare for every possible scenario."

Neighboring North Carolina also declared a state of emergency, and Georgia announced a state of emergency for 12 counties.

Orlando International Airport was to protectively halt commercial flights at 2:00 am (0600 GMT) Monday, and Florida's NASA Kennedy Space Center said it was moving an enormous mobile rocket launcher inside to protect it.