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Militias have been formed to stop looting in the devastated Bahamas as the true impact of Hurricane Dorian begins to emerge. 

Corpses have piled up and officials have ordered in hundreds of body bags as Bahamian Health Minister Duane Sands warned the official death toll 'could be staggering'. The death count climbed to 30 on Thursday but is expected to rise today. 

It became clear yesterday that the Bahamas is facing a humanitarian crisis in the wake of Hurricane Dorian as up to 70,000 people are in need of 'life-saving assistance'.

A massive international relief effort was ramped up as the extent of the damage wrought by Dorian came into focus through satellite images and harrowing accounts from survivors, with volunteers from charities including World Central Kitchen transporting food relief for survivors. 

Concerns of looting and violence breaking out in the islands have led to the government deploying extra security on Abaco and Grand Bahama, the northern islands. 

Volunteers with World Central Kitchen transport food relief for survivors of Hurricane Dorian in Marsh Harbor, Great Abaco on September 5 

A woman comforts a man who cries after discovering his shattered house and not knowing anything about his eight relatives who lived there, missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, in High Rock, Grand Bahama, on Thursday

A view of a looted supermarket after Hurricane Dorian hit the Abaco Islands in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, on September 5.  Militias have been formed to stop looting in the devastated Bahamas as the true impact of Hurricane Dorian begins to emerge

The Minister of National Security was deployed to Abaco yesterday to establish order amid reports of looting. The island has been rendered uninhabitable by the storm. 

Hundreds and possibly thousands are believed to still be missing on the northern islands, parts of which were completely decimated. 

The storm struck the island chain as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane on Sunday and stalled over Abaco and Grand Bahama for the following two days as 185mph winds and torrential rains ravaged countless communities. 

A few hundred people sat at the partly flooded Leonard M. Thompson airport on Abaco island Thursday as small planes picked up the most vulnerable survivors, including the sick and the elderly. The evacuation was slow and there was frustration for some who said they had nowhere to go after the Category 5 hurricane splintered whole neighborhoods.

'They told us that the babies, the pregnant people and the elderly people were supposed to be first preference,' said Lukya Thompson, a 23-year-old bartender. But many were still waiting, she said.

A woman walks out of a looted store after Hurricane Dorian hit the Abaco Islands in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas on September 5

A man carries boxes outside a looted supermarket. The Minister of National Security was deployed to Abaco yesterday to establish order amid reports of looting

A man picks up groceries at a looted supermarket after Hurricane Dorian hit the Abaco Islands in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas 

People wait outside hospital in Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco, Bahamas. At least 30 people died in the hurricane and the number could be 'significantly higher,' Bahamian health minister Duane Sands told The Associated Press in a telephone interview late Thursday. The victims are from Abaco and Grand Bahama islands and include some who died from injuries after being flown to New Providence island, he said

Despite hardship and uncertainty, those at the airport were mostly calm. The Bahamian health ministry said helicopters and boats were on the way to help people in affected areas, though officials warned of delays because of severe flooding and limited access.

At least 30 people died in the hurricane and the number could be 'significantly higher,' Bahamian health minister Duane Sands told The Associated Press in a telephone interview late Thursday. The victims are from Abaco and Grand Bahama islands and include some who died from injuries after being flown to New Providence island, he said.

The hurricane hit Abaco on Sunday and then hovered over Grand Bahama for a day and a half.

On Thursday, emergency officials fanned out across stricken areas to track down people who were missing or in distress. Crews began clearing streets and setting up aid distribution centers.

The United Nations announced the purchase of eight tons of ready-to-eat meals and said it will provide satellite communications equipment and airlift storage units, generators and prefab offices to set up logistics hubs. U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said about 70,000 people 'are in immediate need of life-saving assistance' on Grand Bahama and Abaco.

A British Royal Navy ship docked at Abaco and distributed supplies to hurricane survivors. On Grand Bahama, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship dropped off 10,000 meals, 10,000 bottles of water and more than 180 generators, as well as diapers and flashlights.

American Airlines said it flew a Boeing 737 from Miami to Nassau to drop off 14,000 pounds of relief supplies. The airline is also giving frequent-flyer points to customers who donate at least $25 to the Red Cross.

Troops from the Rhode Island National Guard will be heading to the Bahamas to help. The Guard will mobilize three C-130J cargo aircraft that will depart from the Quonset Air National Guard Base on Friday, state officials said.

The Bahamas are facing a humanitarian crisis in the wake of Hurricane Dorian as at least 70,000 people are in need of 'life-saving assistance' and the death toll, which reached 30 on Thursday, is expected to climb. Aliana Alexis, of Haiti, stands in the wreckage of her home in a shantytown called The Mudd at Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island on Thursday

A view of a looted supermarket after Hurricane Dorian hit the Abaco islands, above and below. The storm struck the island chain as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane on Sunday and stalled over Abaco and Grand Bahama for the following two days as 185mph winds and torrential rains ravaged countless communities

The Minister of National Security was deployed to Abaco yesterday to establish order amid reports of looting. The island has been rendered uninhabitable by the storm.

A man carries boxes outside a looted supermarket in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian hit, causing widespread devastation

Some dazed survivors of Hurricane Dorian made their way back to a shantytown where they used to live, hoping to gather up some of their soggy belongings.

The community was known as The Mudd - or 'Da Mudd,' as it's often pronounced - and it was built by thousands of Haitian migrants over decades. It was razed in a matter of hours by Dorian, which reduced it to piles of splintered plywood and two-by-fours 4 and 5 feet deep, spread over an area equal to several football fields.

A helicopter buzzed overhead as people picked through the debris, avoiding a body that lay tangled underneath a tree branch next to twisted sheets of corrugated metal, its hands stretched toward the sky. It was one of at least nine bodies that people said they had seen in the area.

'Ain't nobody come to get them,' said Cardot Ked, a 43-year-old carpenter from Haiti who has lived 25 years in Abaco. 'If we could get to the next island, that's the best thing we can do.'

Ked was one of thousands of desperate people seeking help in Dorian's aftermath. With winds of 185 mph (295 kph), the hurricane obliterated houses on the Bahamas' Abaco and Grand Bahama islands.

Crews in Grand Bahama worked to reopen the airport and used heavy equipment to pick up branches and palm fronds. Lines formed outside gas stations and grocery stores.

A woman carrying a baby next to a looted store in the Abaco islands in Marsh Harbour on Thursday, September 5

A woman tries on shows outside a looted store after Hurricane Dorian hit in the Abaco Islands in Marsh Harbor. 'People will be out of jobs for months,' 67-year-old wood carver Gordon Higgs lamented. 'They'll be homeless, no food. Nothing'

Men push a cart with groceries near a looted supermarket after Hurricane Dorian hit the Abaco Islands in Marsh Harbour 

A destroyed boat is seen at a marina after Hurricane Dorian hit the Abaco Islands in Marsh Harbor on Thursday, September 5

'People will be out of jobs for months,' 67-year-old wood carver Gordon Higgs lamented. 'They'll be homeless, no food. Nothing.'

Total property losses, not including infrastructure and autos, could reach $7 billion, the firm Karen Clark & Co. estimated.

On Thursday, medical officials moved hundreds of people left homeless by the storm out of the main hospital in Abaco to shelters in schools and other government buildings. Some were angry at being asked to leave, or at not being allowed to freely enter to visit hurt relatives, and a shouting match erupted at the main door between a small group of hurricane victims and Bahamas marines.

Abaco and Grand Bahama islands are known for their marinas, golf courses and all-inclusive resorts and are home to many fishermen, laborers and hotel workers.

At the Leonard M. Thompson airport, Rashad Reckley, a 30-year-old saxophonist, played the Bob Marley song 'Three Little Birds' for people who had lost their homes. 

'I want to lift up everybody's spirits after all the tragedy that happened,' said Reckley, who said he had exhausted his repertoire after playing for hours.

'They want me to play more,' Reckley said. 'But I can't think of songs to play.' 

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A massive international relief effort kicked off on Thursday as the extent of the damage wrought by Dorian comes into focus through satellite images, like the one above from downtown Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco island

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Dorian struck the island chain as a catastrophic Category 5 storm on Sunday and stalled over Abaco and Grand Bahama for the following two days as 185mph winds and torrential rains ravaged countless communities. Pictured is a close up of Green Turtle Cay before and after the hurricane

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The devastation wrought by Dorian came into focus Thursday as the passing of the storm revealed a muddy, debris-strewn landscape of smashed and flooded-out homes on Abaco and Grand Bahama islands. Marinas and homes on Marsh Harbour are pictured before and after 

The storm struck the island chain as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane on Sunday and stalled over Abaco and Grand Bahama for the following two days as 185mph winds and torrential rains ravaged countless communities. 

'All the main buildings, gone. It's gone. Everything is gone,' Robert Cornea, who has lived in Abaco for more than 50 years with his wife Phyllis, told CBS News. 

The couple have been homeless since Sunday.  

'Take a picture of me because it's all I have left, what you see me in,' Phyllis Cornea said from the wreckage of her home. 'I've been in this four days.'

On Wednesday United Nations humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said around 70,000 people 'are in immediate need of life-saving assistance', adding that the most urgent needs are water, food, shelter and accommodation. 

'This is our Katrina moment,' Bahamian Health Minister Duane Sands said Thursday.  

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said Dorian left 'generational devastation' and asked for prayers for the thousands of families affected.   

A massive international relief effort kicked off on Thursday as the extent of the damage wrought by Dorian comes into focus through satellite images, like the one above from Great Abaco

Dorian struck the island chain as a catastrophic Category 5 storm on Sunday and stalled over Abaco and Grand Bahama for the following two days as 185mph winds and torrential rains ravaged countless communities

On Wednesday United Nations humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said around 70,000 people 'are in immediate need of life-saving assistance', adding that the most urgent needs are water, food, shelter and accommodation

Half of the homes in the Bahamas were destroyed or severely damaged, racking up a total of $7billion in insured and uninsured property losses, according to a Thursday estimate from the catastrophe modelers Karen Clark & Co

Catastrophic flooding in community of Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island is seen from above on Thursday

A man carries bags of his clothes out of his home in the Abaco Islands after it was wrecked by the hurricane

Isabel Strachan (left) walks through the wreckage with her son Nathiel and brother-in-law Kyreem Jonassaind

Former Marsh Harbour Fire Chief Norwel Gordon helps search and rescue crews survey the damage in Marsh Harbour

Half of the homes in the Bahamas were destroyed or severely damaged, racking up a total of $7billion in insured and uninsured property losses, according to a Thursday estimate from the catastrophe modelers Karen Clark & Co.  

The Bahamian government sent hundreds of police and marines into the stricken islands, along with doctors, nurses and other health care workers. 

The US Coast Guard, Britain's Royal Navy and relief organizations including the UN and the Red Cross joined the burgeoning effort to rush food and medicine to survivors and lift the most desperate people to safety by helicopter. 

UN chief Lowcock said he told Prime Minister Hubert Minnis that he was releasing $1 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund immediately to deal with these priorities as well as for medical supplies and services for Grand Bahama. 

He said the United Nations began gathering data Wednesday with officials in the region 'so we really understand where the most vulnerable people are and what their precise needs are.'

President Donald Trump has also offered his condolences and said the United States will provide all appropriate support to the people of the Bahamas during the Bahamian government's response to Hurricane Dorian. 

Rescue workers recover the body of a victim of Hurricane Dorian in Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island, on Thursday

A number of bodies have been reported in Marsh Harbour as search and rescue crews work to find them as quickly as possible

Steven Turnquest comforts his sons Leslie and Kile as they wait for assistance at the airport in Nassau, Bahamas, on Thursday

Residents wait for assistance at the airport in Nassau, Bahamas, on Thursday, after they were rescued from Abaco

Humanitarian and Disaster Relief troops from Britain are seen delivering water to Abaco on Thursday 

Members of the Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) team from RFA Mounts Bay provide assistance to the islanders

Boats are seen strewn across Marsh Harbour on Grand Abaco Island on Thursday

A puddle reflects the now blue sky by a fishing boat that was damaged when the 185mph winds blew into the Bahamas 

Several survivors have documented the destruction on social media as they wait for aid to arrive 

Men are seen repairing the roof of a home after it was badly damaged in the Category 5 storm 

A helicopter is seen taking off from Marsh Harbour Healthcare Center as rescue crews continue to search for survivors

Officials are working to evacuate people to the capital in Nassau, but their efforts have been complicated by flooded runways at regional airports like the one above in Marsh Harbour

An unknown number of people were trapped in their homes waiting for help as the storm passed and for days afterward.  

Sylvia Cottis, 89, was inside her home at an Abaco beach club when the winds blew out the supposedly hurricane-proof windows, turning the glass into razor-sharp shrapnel that opened a wide gash on her knee.

For the next five days, Cottis and her caretaker, 58-year-old Kathryn Cartwright, were trapped in the house waiting for help as conditions worsened. 

Cottis spent the days sitting in her wheelchair and the nights sleeping in a metal lawn lounger, surrounded by wet belongings and sewage from a septic tank that overflowed with floodwater and swamped her house.  

The two women heard helicopters overhead and cars driving past, but the weather and massive flooding prevented any assistance. 

Cartwright stayed with Cottis despite being worried about her own son and daughter, whom and had not heard from since the storm hit. 

'I can't leave her here too long,' Cartwright told AP in a tearful interview from the wrecked home.   

Help finally came on Wednesday when her neighbor Ben Allen and his friend pried open the jammed front door with a screwdriver to check on Cottis and Cartwright. 

By then, the gash on Cottis' leg had become infected and swollen. 

Allen, a 40-year-old construction worker and maintenance man, loaded Cottis into his minivan and took her to get medical attention.  

Sissel Mosvold, left, embraces a volunteer who helped rescue her mother from her home, flooded by the waters of Hurricane Dorian, in the outskirts of Freeport, Bahamas. Virginia Mosvold, right, is brought down from a truck by volunteers

A survivor walks through flooded land leaving behind abandoned cars in Freeport on Grand Bahama Island

The Bahamas' usual idyllic beach fronts and white painted buildings - like the hotel above - were devastated by the hurricane

A family, including four children, wait for relief supplies to arrive in Great Abaco as the Bahamas were battered by Dorian

People wait for relief supplies to arrive at Treasure Cay Airport following Hurricane Dorian

They watched in horror as the minivan sped past broken cell towers, snapped power lines, trees stripped of their leaves, 30- to 40-foot boats thrown on top of buildings and metal shutters ripped off their frames and hurled into stores.

'Abaco is no more,' Allen told AP. Exactly a week ago, it was 'the most beautiful place you wanted to be', he said.

During the ride, Cartwright pointed out businesses she knew and homes that once belonged to her friends. Then she fell silent. 'Oh, my father, look at everything.'

Cartwright, still preoccupied with her children, said: 'I just want to see my son tonight.'

At that moment, the van drove through a pool of water, and a car coming the opposite way slowed down on the two-lane road. All of a sudden, Cartwright screamed: 'That's my son! That's my son!'

She hustled out of the car and swept the 29-year-old marine welder and father of two into her arms as she cried. She had not known until that moment if he was alive. 

Her son, Carlton Nixon, informed her that 'the babies are okay', but that his daughter needed to be taken off of Abaco. 

As they hugged and talked, cars started piling up on both sides and drivers began to honk. Cartwright and her son made plans to see each other later and went their separate ways.

The beat-up van continued to Marsh Harbour Healthcare Center, where Cottis was taken in for treatment. 

Several hundred people are now temporarily living at the center, the island's main hospital. 

Small children played outside amid coils of downed power lines while homeless families rested on the hospital's lawn.

Inside, people crammed into the entrances, the hallways, the waiting room. Small children slept sprawled out on sheets and unfurled sleeping bags while toddlers in diapers stood in a portable playpen in the hospital's driveway.

A woman and her children sleep in the hallway of the Marsh Harbour Medical Clinic in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian

Patients and their families crowd the entrance of the Marsh Harbour Medical Clinic in the Great Abaco island town of Marsh Harbour

Refuse including medical waste is seen near the entrance of the Marsh Harbour Medical Clinic where hundreds took shelter

AP journalists observed a body tangled underneath a tree branch by twisted sheets of metal at The Mudd, a shantytown in Great Abaco island that was home to several thousand Haitian migrants before Dorian razed it. 

Residents have reported seeing at least eight other bodies in the area.  

Among those who lost a loved one in The Mudd was Benatace Pierre-Louis, 57, who collects and sells scrap metal. He said his sister-in-law died as she tried to escape the storm but got hit by plywood.

'They gone, but we can't do nothing,' he said, adding that Bahamian immigration officials visited The Mudd ahead of Dorian and told people to go to shelters for their safety.  

Adrian Farrington said he is holding onto hope that his son will be found alive after the five-year-old was swept off a roof by surging floodwaters. 

'I still can see my son getting dragged across the roof reaching up,' Farrington told CBS News. 

'If he be rescued, praise the lord. But for the search, what I saw, when I lose him, anything could happen. You had sharks swimming in the water. Anything can happen.' 

Displaced Haitian nationals take refuge on the grounds of the Government complex in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian

Men are seen recovering items a pile of debris where a home once stood in Marsh Harbour

Hundreds of cars were smashed to pieces by the Category 4 Hurricane which flattened entire communities and took the lives of at least 23 people

A relief effort is now underway in the Bahamas following the deaths of at least 23 people and the devastation of whole communities

A home in Freeport barely remains standing after the roof was torn off and it was pelted by debris 

Officials are working to evacuate people to the capital in Nassau, but their efforts have been complicated by flooded runways at Grand Bahama International Airport.   

Londa Sawyer stepped off a helicopter with her two children and two dogs on Wednesday after being rescued from Marsh Harbour, where she said 'it looks like a bomb hit.'

She said her home was completely flooded and that she and her family fled to a friend's home where the water came up past the second floor, carrying them up to within a few feet of the ceiling. She said she and her children and the dogs were floating on a mattress for about half an hour until the water started receding.

Sawyer said there was some looting but she didn't witness any violence.    

Aerial footage showed scenes of catastrophic damage, with hundreds of homes missing roofs, cars submerged or overturned, widespread flooding and boats reduced to matchwood. 

Bahamas residents 'endured hours and days of horror, fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones,' Minnis said.   

After it left the Bahamas, Dorian regained strength as it pushed up the southeastern US coast as a Category 3 hurricane, lashing the Carolinas with tropical storm-force winds after millions of people were warned to clear out. 

By Thursday morning, Dorian had still-dangerous 115 mph wind and was scraping the Carolinas with the potential for over a foot of rain in some spots by Friday. 

Forecasters warned of a life-threatening storm surge along the coasts. The storm was centered about 70 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, moving north at 8 mph.

The US mainland recorded its first death in connection with the hurricane, that of an 85-year-old man in North Carolina who fell off a ladder while preparing his home for the storm. Dorian was also blamed for one death in Puerto Rico.

Sean Connery says he is 'lucky' to have escaped unharmed at his luxury mansion in The Bahamas where he was 'prepared' for Hurricane Dorian

Sir Sean Connery says he is 'lucky' to have escaped Hurricane Dorian unharmed after it wreaked destruction in the Bahamas.

The Bond star lives on the island of New Providence, which was largely spared by the storm, with his wife Micheline.

But at least 30 people were killed in the category five hurricane, which battered the islands with gusts of up to 225mph. The death toll is expected to rise dramatically as the clean-up operation continues.

'We are both fine,' the 89-year-old actor told the Scottish Daily Mail. 'We were lucky compared to many others and the damage here was not great. We had been prepared for the storm, everything was ready in advance – we weren’t taking any chances and knew what to do.'

Sir Sean has lived in the Bahamas since the 1990s, and owns a mansion in Lyford Cay, an exclusive gated community on New Providence, around 90 miles from Great Abaco, which was worst hit by the storm. 

Sir Sean Connery says he is 'lucky' to have escaped Hurricane Dorian unharmed after it wreaked destruction in the Bahamas

The satellite photo above shows Dorian's position over the Carolinas at noon on Thursday

Boats in the usually-pristine Marsh Harbour were forced into each other and crashed as the winds attacked the Bahamas

Cars are seen stuck under several feet of debris tossed about by the hurricane winds and rain 

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis called Dorian 'one of the greatest national crises in our country's history'