Dorian, back to Category 3, creeps up US East Coast

CHARLESTON, South Carolina-Hurricane Dorian, back to a Category 3 storm, began raking the southeastern United States seaboard early on Thursday. It left tens of thousands without power as it threatened to inundate low-lying coasts from Georgia to Virginia with a life-threatening storm surge after its deadly mauling of the Bahamas.

The United Nations said 70,000 people on Grand Bahama and Abaco islands were in "immediate need" of aid.

Shelter, safe drinking water, food and medicine were urgently needed for about 50,000 people on Grand Bahama and between 15,000 and 20,000 on Abaco Island, UN emergency relief coordinator Mark Lowcock said.

Dorian had crashed into the island nation as its strongest hurricane on record, leaving widespread devastation and at least 20 people dead. But it weakened substantially in the days since, dropping from a Category 5 to a Category 2 storm before gaining power again late on Wednesday. Dorian could maintain this intensity for about nine hours before gradually weakening through Saturday, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

As of early Thursday, more than 16,800 households in Charleston County and over 6,800 in Beaufort County were without power, according to Dominion Energy. Berkeley Electric Cooperative reports another 4,900 in Charleston County.

More than 1,500 people sought refuge in 28 shelters in South Carolina, where sheets of rain began falling late Wednesday in the historic port city of Charleston, located on a peninsula prone to flooding. As Dorian crept dangerously closer, winds picked up, sending rain sheets sideways. Thunder boomed in the night sky and power flickered on and off.

In Charleston's downtown, stores and restaurants were boarded up with wood and corrugated metal and about 830,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders on the South Carolina coast.

Hundreds of thousands also were ordered off the Georgia coast. A flood chart posted by the US National Weather Service projected a combined high tide and storm surge around Charleston Harbor of 3.1 meters; the record, 4 meters, was set by Hugo in 1989.

Georgia's coastal islands were also at risk, Governor Brian Kemp said on Wednesday, adding "we are very worried, especially about the barrier islands getting cut off".

The approach of Dorian has left the cobblestone streets of the historic district of Savannah, Georgia, largely deserted. But there were still places to find a hurricane party. More than 30 people gathered at Pinkie Master's Lounge on Wednesday evening, as wind gusts from the offshore hurricane bent tree tops in Savannah.

In North Carolina, where authorities said an 85-year-old man died after falling from a ladder while getting ready for Dorian, Governor Roy Cooper warned of the threat of storm surge and flash flooding from heavy rains. The Outer Banks barrier islands were particularly exposed.

Duke Energy said Dorian could cause more than 700,000 power outages in easternmost parts of North Carolina and South Carolina, and Georgia Power said about 2,800 homes and businesses were already without electricity.

Agencies

(China Daily 09/06/2019 page12)