The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Dorian made landfall on Elbow Cay in the Abaco Islands as a Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 295 kph and gusts of more than 354 kph. It made a second landfall on Great Abaco Island near Marsh Harbor and was now 113 km from the Florida coast.
Millions of people from Florida to North Carolina were bracing to see whether Dorian avoids a US landfall and veers north into the Atlantic Ocean. Even a glancing blow from one of the strongest storms ever to menace Florida could bring torrential rains and damaging winds, and "a Florida landfall is still a distinct possibility," the Miami-based NHC warned.
Residents on Abaco posted video on social media showing floodwaters halfway up the sides of single-family homes with parts of the roofs torn off. Car alarms blared across the island, which was littered with twisted metal and splintered wood. Forecasters predicted up to 30 inches (76 cm) of rain and 23-foot (7-metre) storm surges from the Category 5 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale.
The pummeling was expected to last for hours as the hurricane may slow to just 1 mph (1.6 kph), "prolonging its catastrophic effects," the NHC said.
Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said in a nationally televised news conference that a "deadly storm and a monster storm" was battering the region. The islands' homes are built to withstand winds of at least 150 mph (241 kph), but the 20-foot (6-metre) storm surge is higher than the average roof.
"This will put us to a test that we've never confronted before," he said. "This is probably the most sad and worst day of my life to address the Bahamian people. I just want to say as a physician I've been trained to withstand many things, but never anything like this."
Dorian was the strongest hurricane on record to hit the northwestern Bahamas.
FLORIDA EVACUATIONS
In Florida, at least seven counties issued mandatory evacuations for some residents, including those in mobile homes, on barrier islands and in low-lying areas. Palm Beach County, the third most-populated county and home to President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, was among those with partial mandatory evacuations. Other counties announced voluntary evacuations.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency for his state on Sunday in anticipation of the hurricane.
Trump said on Sunday the storm would likely affect the eastern seaboard from Florida to North Carolina.
"This looks monstrous," Trump said during a briefing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "This looks like it could be larger than all of them."
FEMA is moving food, water and generators into the Southeastern United States, said acting Administrator Peter Gaynor.
"When it comes to response, we are more than ready to deal with anything that Dorian delivers us this year, or any other storm that may come this season," he told CNN.
Also on Sunday, a new tropical storm formed southwest of Mexico and is expected to become a hurricane on Monday. Tropical Storm Juliette was 455 miles (735 km) from Manzanillo, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph), the NHC said on Sunday.
