Category 5 Dorian battering northern Bahamas

A textbook image of category 5 hurricane Dorian early Sunday morning. (Tropical Tidbits)

Early Sunday morning, hurricane Dorian was upgraded to a powerful category 5 storm, with winds of  260km/h (160 mph). The storm is battering the northwest Bahamas, and expected to do so through Monday. The slow moving hurricane is drifting west at 15km/h. Dorian was located 55km east of Great Abaco Island. Catastrophic damage from wind, rain and storm surge is possible with a category 5 storm.

Hurricane warnings remain in effect for the northwest Bahamas, while a tropical storm warning is in effect for the Florida coast from  Deerfield to Sebastian Inlet. A tropical storm watch is in effect north to Golden Beach. Winds and waves will begin increasing along the Florida coast late tonight and on Labour Day.

Some computer models now have Dorian remaining off the Florida coast and turning sharply north then northeast early this week. The hurricane now poses a serious threat to the North and South Carolina coast, including the extremely fragile Outer Banks. A state of emergency remains in effect for Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.