May God Be With You, Bahamas PM Says as Dorian Comes Ashore

(Bloomberg) -- Many residents of the Bahamas didn’t heed an urgent request to leave the low-lying islands known as the cays ahead of Hurricane Dorian, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said Sunday as the massive storm touched down.Dorian, a Category 5 hurricane, tied as the strongest storm to hit anywhere in the Atlantic when it slammed into tiny Elbow Cay, part of the Bahamas’ Abaco Islands, shortly before 1 p.m. EDT with top sustained winds around 185 miles per hour and gusts over 200 mph.“There are individuals who have refused to move. I can only say to them that I hope this is not the last time they will hear my voice, and may God be with them,” Minnis said in an address to the nation. “They are now in for the long haul.”Many homes on the islands are built to withstand winds of at least 150 mph, Minnis said. “This will put us to a test that we’ve never confronted before.”Speaking from the Abaco Islands, Darren Henfield, the Bahamas minister for foreign affairs, urged residents not to panic. “We’re going to be okay, we just need to keep calm heads and stay focused. We’re going to be okay.”The Bahamas began mobilizing private boats on Saturday to evacuate residents in the path of Dorian, as the powerful system threatened to pummel the island nation with a dangerous storm surge and prolonged rains.Minnis made an urgent plea on Saturday to residents in the cays and coastal areas to leave immediately, bemoaning the fact that “there are many within the cays who are refusing to leave.”‘Beg and Plead’“I beg and plead with you, for those of you who want to place their own lives in danger, please allow the women and elderly to leave,” Minnis said.President Donald Trump also offered thoughts for people of the Bahamas, which he said in a tweet on Sunday was “being hit like never before.”The U.S. National Hurricane Center said a life-threatening storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 18 to 23 feet above normal tide levels in areas of onshore winds on the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, the northern-most island of the Bahamas archipelago and home to the country’s second-largest city.Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves. Rainfall in the northwestern Bahamas could be 12 to 24 inches.Social media images showed flooding in the streets of Eleuthera, an island more than 100 miles south of Elbow Cay. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from the center of the storm, and tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 140 miles.Minnis said on Saturday that about 73,000 people and 21,000 homes were at risk. Real estate listings show several several multi-million dollar homes listed for sale on Elbow Cay and nearby islands.One of the richest countries in the Americas, the Bahamanian economy is dominated by tourism and banking, with the former being highly sensitive to the kinds of coastal damage officials are now predicting. Grand Bahama is home to Freeport, the country’s second-largest city, and is known for resort-style hotels and golf courses.Elbow Cay, part of the Abaco Islands, is about eight miles long. “Coastal Living” magazine described it as having a relaxed, “New England-meets-the tropics ambiance.” It previously suffered damage from Hurricane Floyd in 1999, which hit as a Category 4 storm.The Bahamas is known as a tax haven. Among the celebrities who own property in the islands are billionaire Joe Lewis, chairman of Bahamas-based investment management group Tavistock Group, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, actor Johnny Depp, golfer Justin Rose and fashion designer Calvin Klein.(Updates with foreign minister, Trump, from fifth paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net;Michael Riley in Washington at michaelriley@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Virginia Van NattaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.