Hurricane Dorian Upgraded To ’Extremely Dangerous’ Category 4 Storm

By Staff, Agencies

Hurricane Dorian has grown into an "extremely dangerous" storm on Friday as it pushed towards the Bahamas and the southern east coast US state of Florida. It is expected to make landfall in the Bahamas on Sunday and in Florida Monday or Tuesday.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center [NHC] said Dorian "has strengthened to an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane" on a five-level scale.

The storm has winds near 220 kilometers per hour, according to the NHC.

"A prolonged period of life-threatening storm surge and devastating hurricane-force winds are likely in portions of the northwestern Bahamas, where a hurricane warning is in effect," the NHC added.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago golf club is located in Palm Beach in Florida, declared a state of emergency in Florida authorizing federal assistance to supplement state and local efforts.

He said Dorian was "looking like it could be an absolute monster" and nixed a trip to Poland to stay behind and oversee the preparations for the storm.

"All indications are it's going to hit very hard," Trump said. "Some people said bigger or at least as big as Andrew," a Category 5 storm that left 65 people dead in 1992.

Minnis, the Bahamas prime minister, told a press conference that the storm was life-threatening.

"Those who refuse to evacuate place themselves in very great danger... Do not put your life and those of your loved ones at unnecessary risk.

"Do not be foolish and try to brave out this hurricane," Minnis said. "The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life."

With the path of the storm still uncertain, coastal Florida residents were not under evacuation orders yet but stocked up on food, water and other supplies and made preparations to flee their homes.