The Washington Post - 06.09.2019

A6 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 , 2019

nated food and clothing. Cruise

lines were also ferrying relief work-

ers and supplies to the islands.

In a letter to Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo on Thursday, Sen.

Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called on the

federal government “to ensure all

possible resources are made avail-

able to secure the safety and pro-

tection of Bahamian citizens and to

assist in post-recovery relief ef-

forts.”

A day earlier, Rubio and Sen.

Rick Scott, also a Republican from

Florida, sent a letter to President

Trump urging him to “suspend cer-

tain visa requirements” for Baha-

mas citizens who want to visit or

shelter with family in the United

States.

In addition to the shelter materi-

als, the federal government is plan-

ning to dispatch a 57-member

search and rescue team to the Ba-

hamas, along with 50,000 pounds

of medical equipment.

During some catastrophic disas-

ters overseas, U.S. presidents took

the lead in helping to coordinate

relief efforts. During the 2010

earthquake in Haiti, President Ba-

rack Obama pledged a $100 mil-

lion U.S. relief package. After the

2004 tsunami in South Asia, Presi-

dent George W. Bush pledged

$950 million in aid, and asked his

father, former president George

H.W. Bush, and former president

Bill Clinton to lead a global fund-

raising effort.

Rubio said he’s confident that

the White House is fully engaged

and will do what it can to support

relief efforts in the Bahamas.

“They’re still focused on the

storm threat to America, and right-

fully so,” said Rubio, noting that the

Coast Guard, the Navy and U.S.

Customs and Border Protection

are all helping rescue efforts in the

Bahamas.

Rubio added, unlike in the

weeks after the Haitian earth-

quake, the Bahamas government

remains well-positioned to take

the lead in coordinating relief ef-

forts.

“This is a catastrophic event,

there is no doubt about that,” Rubio

said. “But at the same time, the

Bahamian government has func-

tioning, stable government agen-

cies... unlike Haiti, which had

some underlying issues like vio-

lence, poverty and government in-

stability.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Craig reported from Jacksonville, Fla.

Nirappil reported from Emerald Isle,

N.C. Patricia Sullivan in Wilmington,

N.C.; Lori Rozsa in West Palm Beach,

Fla.; Kirk Ross in New Bern, N.C.; and

Stephanie Hunt in Charleston, S.C.,

contributed to this report.

Islands, creating fresh anxiety for

residents still cleaning up from

major hurricanes in 2017.

Dorian then tracked into the Ba-

hamas, stalling for more than a day,

while producing catastrophic

damage and a death toll that offi-

cials are still struggling to assess.

On Wednesday, Dorian paral-

leled the east coasts of Florida and

Georgia, eroding beaches but

largely sparing communities from

structural damage. Six people died

in Florida either preparing for the

storm or evacuating from coastal

communities, according to the

Florida Division of Emergency

Management.

As evacuated Florida residents

were returning home, some state

leaders shifted their attention

Thursday to assisting with relief

efforts in the Bahamas, where offi-

cials raised the number of con-

firmed deaths to 30 but expect the

toll will keep climbing. Tens of

thousands of Florida residents are

of Bahamian descent, and the state

has long-standing cultural ties to

its neighbor just 50 miles away.

In Miami, residents were over-

whelming relief centers with do-

northeastern part of Pamlico

Sound into southwestern Pamlico

Sound,” he said. “New Bern kind of

gets the brunt of it. As the river

narrows down, there’s kind of a

funneling effect.”

If the track shifts west and

Dorian passes directly over the

sound, waters will be pushed di-

rectly east to west, and then west to

east as the storm passes over the

sound, increasing sound-side

flooding on Hatteras and Ocracoke

islands and mainland communi-

ties in Pamlico, Dare and Hyde

Counties.

Then, as Dorian moves off the

Outer Banks late Friday, it’s expect-

ed to keep lashing the lower sec-

tions of Chesapeake Bay and the

Maryland beaches with tropical

storm-force winds.

The National Hurricane Center

even forecasts that Dorian or its

remnants could make yet another

landfall on Saturday evening in

Nova Scotia, Canada, more than

two weeks after it began its fero-

cious journey.

After becoming a hurricane on

Aug. 28, Dorian blew past Puerto

Rico, while clipping the U.S. Virgin

with a pained look.

“I was really looking forward to

having a tub,” Hodge said. “Nor-

mally campers only let you have

showers.”

North Carolina officials expect

the most damage could occur in the

lower Outer Banks, where Dorian

could make landfall Friday.

The National Hurricane Center

is forecasting a 4- to 7-foot storm

surge on both Pamlico Sound and

the Atlantic Ocean, which could

inundate the barrier island from

both sides.

Richard Luettich, director of

University of North Carolina at

Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sci-

ences in Morehead City, noted

Pamlico Sound is the largest lagoon

on the East Coast, and that small

changes in the storm track can

mean big differences in how winds

interact with its waters.

Under the current track, which

shows Dorian still on the ocean

side of the Outer Banks, winds

from the storm will force water

westward into the sound toward

New Bern, N.C.

“What you’re going to see is an

awful lot of water pushed from the

and a park where people stored

mobile homes, sending debris fly-

ing across the highway. No injuries

were reported.

Carol Hodge, 52, stood over what

remained of her recreational vehi-

cle, the smoke detector beeping

from inside the rubble. She hoped

it would be the first home she could

call her own after living in her

mother’s house and with friends.

She wasn’t worried at first when

she heard about the tornado, figur-

ing it must have been closer to the

water. Then she saw the footage on

local television and recognized her

“little, ugly” green couch lying in

the middle of the street. She rushed

to the island.

“This was going to be the first

time I ever lived in my own place,

but maybe it wasn’t meant to be,”

said Hodge, a lifelong North Caro-

linian who planned to ride out the

storm in a mobile home communi-

ty in nearby Swansboro. “I don’t

know what I’ll be able to do now.”

For the time being, she just was

trying to salvage what she could

before the downpours started: A

bar stool. Shower curtain rods. She

smiled at the overturned bath tub

trict of Charleston, S.C., on Thurs-
day.
The center of the storm passed
the city before high tide, allowing
the winds to change direction in
time to avoid the kind of devastat-
ing flooding that had been feared.
According to the National Weather
Service, the waters in Charleston
Harbor peaked early Thursday at
7.5 feet, about three feet lower than
initial projections.
But in Myrtle Beach, the storm
brought frequent alerts about pos-
sible flash floods and tornadoes. At
least two tornadoes touched down
in the North Myrtle Beach area,
and strong winds felled trees and
knocked out signs. Thousands
along South Carolina’s Grand
Strand lost power.
Statewide, nearly 150,000 South
Carolina residents were without
power on Thursday, including
100,000 customers in Charleston,
according to Dominion Energy.
“It’s worse than I thought it’d
be,” said Peter McLaughlin, who
fled his beachside residence days
ago. “This one is much closer to us
than any I’ve ever seen. It appears
to be making a beeline for Myrtle
Beach.”
The area received more rain
than expected, said Mark Kruea,
public information officer for Myr-
tle Beach, which could lead to more
flooding, especially when paired
with the storm surge, which was
pushing the Waccamaw and Little
Pee Dee rivers over their banks.
But the severity of the flooding
will be “nothing to compare with”
Hurricane Florence, Kruea said,
which flooded parts of North and
South Carolina last year. Florence
moved ashore from the east and
brought rain bands that stalled
over eastern North Carolina for
several days.
With vivid memories of that
storm on residents’ minds, people
in New Bern, N.C., put sandbags
around homes and businesses and
moved vehicles to higher ground in
preparation for Dorian’s arrival. In
some low-lying communities, resi-
dents are still living in trailers after
Florence damaged or destroyed
their homes.
Long before the main effects of
Dorian arrived, residents in east-
ern North Carolina were dealing
with tornadoes. It’s common for
hurricanes to spin up weak torna-
does, but Dorian appeared to pro-
duce especially large and violent
twisters — some of which started as
waterspouts that were pushed
ashore during gripping television
news coverage of the storm.
In Emerald Isle, N.C., several
buildings and businesses were
ripped apart as a tornado briefly
slashed across a small water park

DORIAN FROM A

Storm pummels Carolinas as Bahamas toll rises

KEN RUINARD/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Members of a National Guard unit check on the Bay Tree subdivision in Little River, near North Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Thursday. Hurricane

Dorian brought heavy rain and tornadoes to the South Carolina coast, with possible landfall and a threat to the Outer Banks expected Friday.

CAROLYN VAN HOUTEN/THE WASHINGTON POST

Debris from Hurricane Dorian covers a neighborhood in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, a town in the devastated Abaco Islands, on Thursday. Hurricane Dorian made landfall here as a Category 5 hurricane, a
deadly tempest that leveled homes, crushed cars, crumpled boats and killed at least 30 people. Some Florida state leaders and federal officials have pledged to expand relief efforts for the islands.

hurricane dorian