At least five people have been killed in the Bahamas as category four Hurricane Dorian batters the region.
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis confirmed the deaths on Monday, adding that there are also people in nearby Great Bahama island who are in serious distress.
He said rescue crews will respond to calls for help as soon as weather conditions allow.
"We are in the midst of a historic tragedy," he said, calling the devastation "unprecedented and extensive".
Hurricane Update: 20 feet of water. This a video sent to me from the home of Honorable Michael Pintard, Minister of Agriculture and Marine. This is his home on Grand Lucayan Waterway pic.twitter.com/MUNZDGZyae
— Dem House Leader (@kionnemcghee) September 2, 2019
At least 21 people have been injured and there are also widespread power cuts.
By Monday night, Dorian had been hovering over Grand Bahama for almost 40 hours with maximum sustained winds of 233kph (145mph).
It is expected to stay in roughly the same place until at least Tuesday morning local time. It is about 100 miles east of Florida's West Palm Beach.
It will then move "dangerously close" to the Florida east coast through Wednesday evening before moving north to coastal Georgia and South Carolina into Thursday, forecasters said.
#Dorian timeline & impacts in a nutshell:
Tues-Wed: close to the Florida east coast
Wed-Thurs: close to the Georgia and South Carolina coasts
Potential impacts: life-threatening storm surge, dangerous winds, flash floods, isolated tornadoeshttps://t.co/IKid9pZiUO pic.twitter.com/JsTg9PD3PG— National Weather Service (@NWS) September 3, 2019
Dorian unleashed massive flooding across the Bahamas, battering the islands with so much wind and water that rescue crews were forced to seek shelter.
Roofs were shredded, cars were hurled into the distance and authorities urged people trapped in flooded homes to find flotation devices and use hammers to break out of their attics if necessary.
Hurricane Update: Just sent to me by Iram Lewis, member of Parliament:- “Video recorded by my Niece Janice Lewis, who is now trapped at home with her mom Daisy, her four year old daughter, and a 4 months old baby boy. Breaking my heart that I cannot get to them.” #BahamasStrong pic.twitter.com/1ocNDhZ1fI
— Dem House Leader (@kionnemcghee) September 2, 2019
Officials said they received a "tremendous" number of calls from people in flooded homes, and a radio station received more than 2,000 distress messages, including reports of a five-month-old baby stranded on a roof.
Police Chief Samuel Butler said rescue teams had to wait until weather conditions improved, but urged people to remain calm and share their GPS coordinates.
"We simply cannot get to you," he told Bahamas radio station ZNS.
On Sunday, Dorian's maximum sustained winds had reached 297kph, with gusts up to354kph, tying the record for the most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever to make landfall.
Forecasters warned that Dorian could generate a storm surge as high as 23ft (seven metres).
Quiet scenes in the terminal as MCO ceases operations today. #Dorian pic.twitter.com/KvHGfgtxpw
— Orlando International Airport (@MCO) September 3, 2019
Florida's busiest airport - Orlando - will close on Tuesday, due to safety concerns as wind speeds could reach up to 72.4kph.
More than 1,300 flights have been cancelled within, to and from the US mostly due to Dorian, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
At least another 1,000 cancellations are expected on Tuesday.
