A man cries after discovering his destroyed house in the Bahamas. Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP
The Dorian death toll in the Bahamas officially has reached 30 people — but hundreds are still missing, and authorities said that figure could soar.
The impact: The final death count will be "staggering," Health Minister Duane Sands told local radio: "[T]he public needs to prepare for unimaginable information about the death toll and the human suffering," per the BBC.
The latest:
- "Literally hundreds, up to thousands, of people are still missing," Joy Jibrilu, director general of the tourism and aviation ministry, told CNN.
- Many of the missing are children, according to Reuters — including a 6-year-old boy who was blown into the waters of a storm surge.
- The UN says 70,000 people have urgent food, water and shelter needs.
Hospitals are overwhelmed, the Miami Herald reports. Anyone who needed surgery in Grand Bahama has to leave the island to get it.
- Sen. Marco Rubio toured the Bahamas by Coast Guard helicopter, and warned on Twitter that the Abaco islands in the northern Bahamas are "increasingly uninhabitable" and need immediate aid "to prevent a human catastrophe."
- Great Abaco island is "virtually uninhabitable, with bodies piled up, no water, power or food, and militias formed to prevent looting," BBC reports.
What to watch: Relief efforts are beginning. The Netherlands will send two naval ships with supplies, and cruise ships are helping with transportation and supplies — including 10,000 meals of chicken, rice and fruit being delivered by Royal Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas, per Reuters.
Go deeper: Category 1 Dorian makes landfall in N.C.