Hurricane Joaquin hits Category 4 as it batters Bahamas

Hurricane Joaquin intensified into a dangerous Category 4 storm on Thursday, a slow-moving monster of a storm that battering eastern Bahamas with 130 mph winds and dangerous storm surge.

“They are under the gun,” said the Bahamas’ National Emergency Management Agency director Capt. Stephen Russell, and will likely “experience the brunt of the storm in the next 12 to 24 hours.”

At 5 p.m., Joaquin’s powerful eye storm was sitting at the edge of Long Key at the western edge of the central Bahamas. The storm, expected to vegin to turn sharply north on Friday, was moving at a crawl, a pace that could compound damage on some islands.

“It’s rough right now,” Maxwell Burrows, 55, said from his home in Long Island in east-central Bahamas. “The internet is down. We don’t have any power and we are getting bad hurricane winds right now.”

Burrows, a tile layer, said even Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which caused damage in the island wasn’t as bad. “What I’m scared of is that the storm is taking so long to go; it’s like it’s not moving,” he said.

The threat to the East Coast appeared to lessen some as the National Hurricane Center’s forecast continued to edged Joaquin’s future path more offshore. Forecasters, however, cautioned that they could not rule out impacts somewhere along the coast — beginning with coastal erosion from heavy surf as well as potentially flooding rains in some states.

In the Bahamas, the powerful storm is expected to generate a potentially deadly storm surge, increased from earlier advisories to five to 10 feet, that could unleash life-threatening flash floods, forecasters said. Near shore, the storm could kick up lethal waves. The wet storm is also expected to dump between 10 and 15 inches of rain over the region, with up to 20 inches possible in some areas.

Joaquin was moving at just 6 mph and forecasters warned it would likely continue to pound the central Bahamas overnight and into the early morning before making an expected sharp turn to the north, which will take it away from the Bahamas and the Florida coast. . States from South Carolina to Maine were continuing to closely monitor Joaquin.

But as of 4 p.m., Cindy Bock who lived in the Salt Pond section of Long Island, said “We’ve had periodic showers coming in; heavy at times but they don’t last very long.”

She said she feared there would be a lot of damage if forecasters were right.

“This is a farming and fishing community and it will impact it quite hard,” said Bock, an American retiree who moved to the island with her husband Don 17 years ago.

Over in Rum Cay, resident Jacqueline Nottage said she didn’t start boardering up until Thursday morning when she heard Joaquin was strengthening. By 4:30 p.m. the island still had power and the eye had not yet passed over, Nottage said.

“There isn’t much rain but we can’t go outside because of the breeze,” she said. “The sea already started coming over the road and into some houses. We just got to give God thanks and hope for the best.”

tides/hurricane Joaquin flooding.Georgetown, Great Exuma, Bahamas pic.twitter.com/TJbL1R8lDJ

— Chris Pontius (@cpFNC) September 30, 2015

Flights to Long Island, Exuma, Eleuthera and as well as Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos were canceled Wednesday. Schools were also closed in the Bahamian island as well as in Providenciales, North and Middle Caicos in the Turks and Caicos Islands because of expected heavy rains.

In addition to power outages and spotty cell phone service, islands in the storm’s path reported storm surges, strong winds and higher-than usual flooding, Russell said. Russell said, however, that flooding was the result of a high spring tide and supermoon that raised seas throughout the Bahamas in recent days.

So far, no injuries have been reported, he said. Officials are warning residents in the storm’s path to seek shelter if needed.

Outer rain bands could also drench portions of eastern Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic today and tonight, forecasters said.

With Joaquin building up, the storm’s future path — and if it will make a sharp turn to the north projected for Friday night or Saturday — continues to be a big concern for the U.S. Computer models still show the storm missing Florida, but the heavily populated Eastern Seaboard from South Carolina to New York will be anxiously watching Joaquin’s path through the weekend.

Forecasters who had warned that a U.S. watch could be issued today, but now say a watch, if one is issued at all, is not likely until Friday. A state of emergency was declared in Virginia Wednesday afternoon.

Even if Joaquin stays offshore, much of the east coast could get hit with strong winds that could whip up coastal flooding, heavy surf and more rain . The mid-Atlantic could see significant beach erosion along with moderate coastal flooding, forecasters said.

Joaquin is the first major threat to the East Coast since Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which came ashore just north of Atlantic City and ultimately caused $75 billion in damage, making it the second costliest storm in U.S. history.

Jenny Staletovich: 305-376-2109, @jenstaletovich

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 4:22 AM.