Hurricane Dorian, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the Atlantic, continued to pummel the Bahamas overnight, leaving a deadly path of destruction despite weakening slightly.
Dorian was downgraded to Category 4 hurricane late on Monday, but remains life-threatening, bringing winds of up to 230km an hour.
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said at least five people had died as a result of the storm, but officials said the death toll could go up.
“We are in the midst of a historic tragedy,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said in announcing the fatalities. He called the devastation “unprecedented and extensive.”
Officials said they had received a “tremendous” number of calls from people in flooded homes.
A radio station received more than 2,000 distress messages, including reports of a five-month-old baby stranded on a roof and a grandmother with six grandchildren who cut a hole in the roof to escape rising floodwaters. Other reports involved a group of eight children and five adults stranded on a highway and two storm shelters that flooded.
Police Chief Samuel Butler urged people to remain calm and share their GPS coordinates, but he said rescue crews had to wait until weather conditions improved.