Hurricane Dorian became the strongest storm on record to strike the Bahamas on Sunday, and is expected to remain a Category 5 storm as its eye hovers over Grand Bahama Island throughout Monday morning. Winds of over 200 mph are possible during the day, The Weather Channel reports. CNN correspondent Patrick Oppmann, reporting from Freeport, said the sound in the Bahamas is "like a jet engine, just screaming winds that pick up but never really go away."
Florida, meanwhile, is bracing for the storm, although it is still unclear how much of the brunt of Dorian is going to slam the coast; the state is expected to begin to receive hurricane-force winds of more than 74 mph overnight. Mandatory evacuations were issued in seven south Florida counties, as well as in parts of Georgia and South Carolina, The New York Times reports.
"This storm is one of the strongest storms that has ever threatened Florida," Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) told The Weather Channel, with Dorian's velocity second only to Hurricane Allen in 1980.
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