Hurricane Dorian devastates the Bahamas as a Category 5
The storm stalled over the islands for more than a day, battering them with extreme winds and a catastrophic surge.
Hurricane Dorian unleashed catastrophe on the northern Bahamas this September, striking as a Category 5 storm and then stalling over the islands for more than a day, subjecting them to a relentless assault of extreme winds and a devastating storm surge.
Dorian came ashore with sustained winds of around 185 miles per hour, among the strongest ever recorded at landfall in the Atlantic. But it was the storm's agonisingly slow movement that proved most destructive, as it ground to a near halt over Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands, pounding them for an excruciating length of time.
The surge and winds flattened neighbourhoods, and the official death toll climbed into the dozens, with many more left missing. Thousands were rendered homeless, and the destruction on the affected islands was near total in places.
Dorian's behaviour exemplified two dangerous trends: extreme peak intensity and slow forward motion. A stalling major hurricane concentrates its fury on one area, turning an already powerful storm into a prolonged catastrophe.
After devastating the Bahamas, Dorian turned north and brushed the US Southeast coast before heading out to sea, sparing the mainland its worst. But for the Bahamas, the storm was a national tragedy, and a sobering illustration of the destructive potential of the most intense hurricanes in a warming world.