Dorian strengthens to Category 3 storm as it threatens US east coast

Hurricane Dorian has claimed at least 20 lives, Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said, warning the storm had caused "generational devastation" as it began lashing the US east coast.

Minnis confirmed the storm's death toll had risen to at least 20 during a news conference in which he described the unthinkable damage that parts of his island nation had sustained.

The US Coast Guard and Britain's Royal Navy airlifted survivors and ferried in emergency supplies as floodwaters receded in the Bahamas, while the center of the strengthening storm pushed along the coasts of North and South Carolina.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Dorian, which has already wrought major damage on its course through the Atlantic, was packing maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour), making it a Category 3 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.

"Hurricane conditions are expected along portions of the South Carolina coast later this morning," the NHC said in its 0900 GMT (5am) bulletin.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said 70,000 people on Grand Bahama and Abaco islands were in "immediate need" of aid.

PM Minnis also warned looters will be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law," and said additional police and defense force officers had been deployed.

Shelter, safe drinking water, food and medicine were urgently needed for some 50,000 people on Grand Bahama and between 15,000 and 20,000 on Abaco, UN emergency relief coordinator Mark Lowcock said after a meeting with the PM.

"Speed is of the essence," Red Cross official Stephen McAndrew said of rescue operations on the two northernmost islands in the Bahamas archipelago which were pummeled by one of the strongest Atlantic storms on record.

People on Grand Bahama were using jet skis and boats to pluck victims from homes flooded and pulverised by the monster storm.

US and British helicopters were conducting medical evacuations, aerial assessments to help coordinate relief efforts, and reconnaissance flights to assess the damage.

President Donald Trump spoke by telephone to the Bahamian leader and pledged US assistance, the White House said.

"A big section of the Bahamas was hit like few people have seen before," Trump said.

"They need a big hand."
"I spoke to my dad on the night of the hurricane, on Sunday night, and his roof blew up," Smith told AFP. "I haven't spoken to him since then. I am really worried. I can't even eat." "The island is devastated," he added. "There is no power, no running water, no electricity."