Thousands of people are missing across the Bahamas islands after hurricane Dorian spent days ravaging the region. Among them, is a six-year-old boy whose father says he was swept away by the floodwaters.
Adrian Farrington Sr. told CBS News he tried to save his son A.J’s life after the storm hit their home on Abaco Island in the northwestern Bahamas. Farrington had put his son on the roof of their home in the hopes that he’d be protected from the floodwater.
“The gust of wind blew him off the roof, on the side of the home, back into the surge water,” Farrington said.
As soon as the surge got hold of A.J., Farrington told CNN that he pushed through debris and rushed to the other side of the roof. He dove underwater in an attempt to save him, but said his son had vanished into the fast-moving waters.
He couldn’t find anything, he said.
“I come back up. I hold my breath and I (went) back down again,” he told CNN. “All this time, people carried my wife to safety and they were calling me, but I didn’t want to go because I didn’t want to leave my son.”
The hurricane hit Abaco on Sunday and then hovered over Grand Bahama for a day and a half.
In an interview with the local outlet, the Nassau Guardian, Farrington said he continued looking for his son in the waves but was eventually unable to fight through the heavy surges, so he retreated to higher ground.
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Hurricane Dorian has killed at least 30 people in the Bahamas with the death toll expected to rise significantly as rescue efforts continue.
The storm swept through the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama Island earlier this week, levelling entire neighbourhoods and knocking out key infrastructure, including airport landing strips and a hospital.
Hundreds of people, if not thousands, are still missing, and officials say the death toll, which currently stands at 30, is likely to shoot up as more bodies are discovered in the ruins and floodwaters left behind by the storm.
The United Nations estimated 70,000 people were in immediate need of food, water and shelter on the islands, where looting of liquor stores and supermarkets has been reported.
Farrington went on to tell the local outlet, the Nassau Guardian, about the state of his community, Murphy Town, after Dorian blew through it.
“I watched the surge push homes off the foundation,” he said. “What the surge didn’t destroy, the winds destroyed.”
The search for victims and survivors continued, five days after Dorian blasted the Bahamas with 185 mph (295 km/h) winds that obliterated countless homes.
The Bahamian Health Ministry said boats were on their way to help people, though officials warned of delays because of severe flooding.
Since then, the storm has made its way up the eastern coast of the United States and is currently moving along the coast of North Carolina. As of Friday morning, the Category 2 storm has knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses in North Carolina and is poised to continue its trek north.
The storm will eventually pass through some Quebec regions and maritime provinces. Officials are warning of significant rainfall, dangerous winds and potential power outages from trees being uprooted. Residents are being cautioned to be ready. The storm will reach Nova Scotia by Saturday, intensify overnight and then will pass through Newfoundland by Sunday, officials say.
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— With files from the Associated Press and Reuters.