Bahamas tour guide calls Dorian 'the most unbelievable storm' to ever hit the islands
The hurricane pummelled the Bahamas islands en route to the coastal U.S.
Keith Cooper spends most of his days in the ocean as a Bahamas tour operator, but right now he's staying as far away from the water as possible.
Hurricane Dorian, the strongest Atlantic hurricane to ever make landfall on Caribbean islands, is now headed for the U.S. Coast. But Dorian has already battered the Bahamas, leaving homes under water, cars flipped, trees uprooted and residents praying to be rescued.
As many as 13,000 homes in the Bahamas may have been destroyed or severely damaged, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis says at least five people have died in the Abaco Islands as of Monday evening.
Cooper is taking shelter in Freeport, the main city on Grand Bahama Island. He spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off on Monday as the storm was still hammering his city. Here is part of their conversation.
How intense is this storm where you are right now?
The winds are just extremely powerful. Every tree is bending right now, including the coconut trees and the pine trees that I'm looking [out of the window at.]
The canal that the house is near — the water is like the ocean right now. If you can visualize waves in the ocean about four feet, we're getting that kind of push from the wind and the pressure that's over us right now.
It's really, really remarkable how powerful hurricane Dorian has become, and is sitting right on top of us.
It has been really quite a nightmare just sitting here ... in broad daylight to watch this whole thing.
Where are you that it's safe?
I'm actually from the West End of the island, which is very low-lying and probably submerged right now. But the home that I'm in is in the Freeport, Lucaya, resort area. I'm at my cousin's house, and luckily for us, the house is extremely well built. It's standing up quite well to the storm.
We haven't had any damage in our immediate vicinity. But I can only imagine what the streets look like — if I were to walk out onto the highways and go onto the main thoroughfares, I'm almost certain that there's going to be all kinds of fallen debris from business signs and from other people's homes.
It's probably going to be a nightmare just driving through the streets of Grand Bahama, and especially in the downtown area of Freeport as well as through the residential areas here. Because we know that the devastation is just unprecedented. And we're just hoping and praying that we'll get some relief and some assistance here from people around the world.
You have electricity?
We have no power. We're only working off a generator right now. So we have little power to just keep our refrigerators and our food from spoiling. And so that's the best we can do right now. We have no water. We won't have any, probably for a very long time.
Your family's all with you?
I've got my cousins with me. I have no wife or children, so I'm very lucky. But my pets are at the Humane Society. And even the animals on the Islands are being affected. The Grand Bahama Humane Society is being flooded. So I don't know what the condition is like over there.
So the poor animals that a lot of the Bahamians have taken — we don't know how they are doing.
What about your own house?
I live right on the water's front, probably no more than 100, 110 [feet] from the water's edge. I sealed up my house. I closed every window.
The water will probably be up to my doorstep, if not above it, when I get to my house later on next week.
You already had quite a loss of your home and property back in 2016 with Hurricane Matthew, didn't you?
I lost everything that I owned at the time — even my vehicle. And because we did not know just how devastating that storm was going to be, unfortunately I left all my belongings in the house. And when we came back ... all the windows and boards had come off the home.
Every appliance was destroyed. Every personal item that I owned. In fact, all of my documents and papers and clothes. And you can only imagine walking into a mess like that.
Have you ever experienced a storm like this one?
Never in my life have I witnessed anything so devastating and horrific. This is the most unbelievable storm I think that has ever hit the islands of the Bahamas, and for that matter any Caribbean island over the last 25 to 30 years.
This is really a devastating situation down here. All I can say is that we're going to need a lot of help and from a lot of people, because there's going to probably be nothing left for anybody to clean once we have the storm settle down and it's past us and it's moving up the coast of the United States.
And what do you say to those people there who are bracing themselves? What advice would you give them at this point?
Leave your house. Do not even take the chance and risk your life and that of your pets. Move away from this ocean. This storm is devastating. It will tear you apart, and it will destroy you and it could possibly kill you.
So heed my warning: leave. Do not stay on any coastal areas of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Please people, go away, and seek shelter in a safe place.
Written by Sheena Goodyear and Jeanne Armstrong with files from The Associated Press. Interview produced by Jeanne Armstrong. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.