WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Hurricane Dorian has weakened to category three after killing five people in Abaco Islands in the Bahamas on Monday.
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said at a news conference that the hurricane was a 'historic tragedy' for the archipelago, where the devastation was 'unprecedented.'
Dorian made landfall in the Atlantic islands as a Category 5 storm on Sunday, producing winds of 185 miles per hour and incessant rains that caused extensive flooding. 13,000 houses were damaged across the nation, according to Red Cross.
U.S. weather agency's National Hurricane Center said Dorian is expected to slowly approach the eastern Florida coastline late Tuesday.
'Dorian will remain a large and dangerous hurricane as the storm tracks north along the Florida coastline through Wednesday. The slow motion will bring long-duration rain, storm surge, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes to the Florida coastline,' NHS said in its latest public advisory.
'The core of extremely dangerous Hurricane Dorian will gradually move north of Grand Bahama Island through this evening. The hurricane will then move dangerously close to the Florida east coast late today through Wednesday evening, very near the Georgia and South Carolina coasts Wednesday night and Thursday, and near or over the North Carolina coast late Thursday.'
The weather forecast says Dorian is expected to remain a powerful hurricane during the next couple of days.
The hurricane is expected to produce 5 to 10 inches of rainfall in Coastal Carolinas, 3 to 6 inches of rain along Atlantic Coast from the Florida peninsula north of West Palm Beach through Georgia, and 2 to 4 inches in Southeast Virginia.
This rainfall may cause life-threatening flash floods, NHS warned.
'A tornado or two is possible near the immediate east coast of Florida through tonight,' it added.
The governments of four states - Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina - have declared a state of emergency. Mandatory evacuation orders were issued across many areas in these states ahead of the storm.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has approved Georgia Emergency Declaration, and ordered Federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Dorian.
'The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population,' the White House said in a statement.
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