ELEUTHERA, Bahamas — Slow-moving Hurricane Joaquin hammered islands in the central Bahamas with torrential rains that flooded homes, and forecasters warned that the “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm could grow even stronger as it roared on a path that would put it in the vicinity of the U.S. East Coast.
But the forecast track from National Hurricane Center in Miami late Thursday night showed a decidedly westward shift that would keep the storm out at sea as it moved north along U.S. shores.
Hurricane Center Hurricane Specialist John Cangialosi told CBS News early Friday, “Over the past couple of days, there’s been a big spread in the models, with some of them showing a left turn into the East Coast.
“Now, the models have come into better agreement in showing a track more toward the north — parallel to, but off the East Coast.
The Hurricane Center is gaining confidence that the storm will likely stay to the east of the United States.
“But there could still be some important impacts. One is the potential for very high surf and rip currents along beaches. The second is very heavy rainfall along a good portion of the East Coast.”
The hurricane center warned Joaquin could still cause flooding from South Carolina to New England. Much of the East Coast was already dealing with significant flooding and heavy rains from separate storms.
Drenching rains caused major flooding in some places, drowning a woman in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Another person was killed near Fayetteville, North Carolina when a tree fell on a car.
The governors of New Jersey, Virginia, North and South Carolina and Maryland declared states of emergency much earlier Thursday in anticipation of Joaquin’s potential arrival.
In the Bahamas, surging waters reached the windows of some houses on Long Island while, on Eleuthera island, people hauled sandbags and boarded up businesses as the storm neared Friday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, according to Capt. Stephen Russell, the director of the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency.
Prime Minister Perry Christie said he was amending laws to mandate evacuations because some people were refusing to move into shelters.
“We do not know the impact of 130 miles an hour on those areas,” he said, referring to the hurricane’s winds. “We know it’s a horrific kind of experience.”
The storm was expected to move near or over portions of the central Bahamas overnight.
On Eleuthera, Christian minister Dawn Taylor said she believed the island would withstand the hurricane because Bahamians learned how to cope with storms after devastating Hurricane Floyd in 1999, which had winds of 155 mph and generated up to 50-foot waves.
Taylor said people on Eleuthera also are deeply religious and that their faith would carry them through.
“We depend on our God, and as long as he is with us, we will be fine and we will ride out the storm,” she said.
The storm approached Eleuthera after it generated severe flooding on Acklins, where power went off overnight and phones were down. Russell said some of the roughly 565 people who live there were trapped in their homes.
Bahamas resident Shandira Forbes said she had spoken to her mother on Acklins by phone Thursday.
“She was calling for help because the sea was coming into her house,” Forbes said. “People’s roofs were lifting up. No one knew (about the storm), so there was no preparedness, there was no meeting, there was nothing.”
Islands such as San Salvador, Cat Island and Rum Cay were expected to be hit hardest before the storm began an expected shift toward the north, forecasters said.
Joaquin had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, the hurricane center said, calling it an “extremely dangerous” hurricane. Early Friday, the storm was located about 20 miles east-southeast of Long Island in the Bahamas and moving northwest at 3 mph.
While Samana Cays is usually uninhabited, eight to 10 people were working there, staying in temporary housing, when the storm hit, said Parliament member Alfred Gray.
“If the buildings look like they won’t withstand, there are some caves on the side of the rock that they can go into because it’s not prone to flooding,” he said.
Meanwhile, authorities in the nearby Turks & Caicos Islands closed all airports, schools and government offices.
The Cuban government issued a tropical storm warning for the provinces of Camaguey, Los Tunas, Holguin, and Guantanamo.
The Hurricane Center said parts of the Bahamas could see storm surge raising sea levels 5 to 10 feet above normal, with 10 to 15 inches of rain falling on the central Bahamas.
