MIAMI — Hurricane Dorian, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, hung over the Bahamas on Monday, thrashing the archipelago with high winds and surging seawater that flooded neighborhoods, submerged vehicles and shredded homes. The storm has left at least five people dead, officials said.

With the storm expected to churn a menacing path toward the United States, forecasters warned that it could inflict serious damage from Florida to southeastern Virginia and possibly beyond. Forecasters moved the storm’s much-watched “cone of uncertainty” slightly eastward on Monday, but they emphasized that even a minor change could bring the storm onto the American coast.

The island of Grand Bahama was subjected to a particularly brutal pummeling as the hurricane came to a near-standstill for most of the day, spewing sustained winds as high as 180 miles per hour.

[Follow the latest updates on Hurricane Dorian.]

“We are in the midst of a historic tragedy in parts of the northern Bahamas,” Prime Minister Hubert A. Minnis said at a news conference late Monday afternoon. “Our mission and focus now is search, rescue and recovery. I ask for your prayers for those in affected areas and for our first responders.”