Breaking News Emails
Hurricane Dorian's destructive waves came knocking at the door of this Bahamas home.
John Slack, a retired photographer, was riding out the storm with a friend on Treasure Cay in the Bahamas when he captured dramatic video of water pounding the property a week ago Sunday.
The surreal footage showed waves overtaking a front-yard fence and high winds blowing nearby palm trees like they were dandelions.
Then, at one terrifying point, waves pounded the home's windows before water crashed inside.
The roof was totally destroyed, as were most of the walls, according to the photographer.
Once Slack got away from the home, he faced conditions much more harrowing than what he shot inside the house. He tried to drive to a friend's condominium, but never made it.
"We left the house and traveled about a half mile and got stuck in the mud trying to go around the trees," he told NBC News on Tuesday. "A two-by-six piece of wood came to my window and shattered it. The hurricane was pouring in to my window.”
The vehicle's airbags deployed due to the impact of the wood, which he then used to cover the blown out window. He, his wife, two adult friends, a 4-year-old boy and three dogs hunkered down for the next 17 hours.
“We felt it would be safe it to ride it out on a marina," Slack said. “Everything was fine up until 30 minutes of the eye wall came.”
Slack was a longtime shooter for Florida Today and snapped a famous photo of Apollo 11 blasting off in 1969.
