Hurricane Dorian claims first casualty in Bahamas

An eight-year-old boy died after Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 storm, made landfall on the eastern end of Grand Bahama Island on Sunday night.

The hurricane is expected to continue to pound the island for most of Monday as it moves toward the southeastern US coast.

According to local media, the deceased eight-year-old boy's grandmother told the reporters that he died on Abaco Island and his body was found by his mother. She also added that her granddaughter is missing, CNN reported.

The storm, which has winds of 165 mph while it was 115 miles east of West Palm Beach early Monday, is expected to begin trudging toward the mainland US later in the day, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The massive storm will get "dangerously close" to Florida's east coast Monday night through Wednesday evening, the centre added.

The damage was reported in Elbow Cay, Man-o-War and Marsh Harbour in the Abaco Islands, where buildings were destroyed and many were partially submerged, with water flooding all around them.

The Abaco Islands are a group of islands and barrier cays in the northern Bahamas, east of southern Florida.

According to the hurricane centre, the northwestern Bahamas will be drenched in up to 24 inches of rain, with some areas expecting up to 30 inches of water.

"Residents on Grand Bahama Island should not leave their shelter when the eye passes over, as winds will rapidly increase on the other side of the eye. Residents in the Abacos should continue to stay in their shelter until conditions subside later today," it added.

Earlier today, there was a hurricane warning in effect for Grand Bahama and the Abacos Islands in the northwestern Bahamas and also in Florida.