Hurricane Joaquin, packing fierce winds and driving rain, bore down on the Bahamas Friday as the US East Coast breathed a tentative sigh of relief amid forecasts the storm would stay out to sea.
The “extremely dangerous” system, whose wrath was also starting to be felt in eastern Cuba, sparked the closure of schools in the Bahamas, with government offices and banks to follow suit as authorities tried to protect people in the popular tourist destination.
The US Coast Guard, meanwhile, was searching by air and sea for a container ship with 33 crew members aboard that was reported to be caught in the storm near Crooked Island, which is part of the Bahamas.
Efforts to reestablish communications with the El Faro — en route from Florida to Puerto Rico — were unsuccessful Thursday, the Coast Guard said.
The crew had previously reported that the vessel had taken on water but that “all flooding had been contained,” it said.
The slow-moving storm — classified as Category 4 on the five-point Saffir Simpson scale — was situated some five miles (10 kilometers) south of Rum Cay and about 40 miles south-southwest of San Salvador, the US National Hurricane Center said.
With maximum sustained winds near 130 miles per hour, it was expected to bear down across parts of the central, southeastern and northwestern parts of the Bahamas through Friday, the Miami-based forecasters said in their latest update on the situation.
“Extremely dangerous Joaquin now moving northward as it batters the Central Bahamas,” they warned.
As the weather worsened across the island chain, authorities announced that the Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau would close in the early afternoon through Saturday morning, local media reported.
All schools were closed Friday with banks and private businesses to shutter in the early afternoon, Tribune 242 reported. Government employees, except those working for essential services, were told to go home at noon.
Meanwhile in Cuba, tropical storm conditions were expected in the eastern part of the island through the morning, according to the NHC.
Downpours and thunderstorms have been strong and intense in some areas, authorities said as they warned citizens to be vigilant.
According to the National Weather Center, a Category 4 storm is capable of causing “catastrophic damage,” snapping and uprooting trees, downing power lines and making affected areas “uninhabitable for weeks or months.”
– Reduced risk for US –
Along the US East Coast, residents and local officials alike were cautiously optimistic as forecast models showed Joaquin moving far offshore as it makes its way to the north over the coming days.
“The forecast models continue to indicate a track offshore of the United States east coast from the Carolinas to the mid-Atlantic states, and the threat of direct impacts from Joaquin in those areas is decreasing,” the NHC said.
Preparations, however, were already underway in some states.
In Virginia, which was already hit by flash flooding Tuesday, the governor declared a state of emergency to prepare for more rain even before Joaquin arrives. Authorities in New Jersey did the same.
“The forecast of up to 10 inches of rain in areas across Virginia could result in floods, power outages and a serious threat to life and property,” Governor Terry McAuliffe said.
US President Barack Obama was briefed on the preparations, the White House said.
Joaquin is the third hurricane of the 2015 Atlantic season, which began in June and ends in November. Peak activity usually occurs in September.
The most destructive weather pattern so far this year was Tropical Storm Erika, which killed around 30 people and caused extensive damage in August on the small Caribbean island of Dominica.