Donald Trump says Hurricane Dorianâ€™s death toll in the Bahamas would have been significantly higher without his help, but leaders on the island still have no idea what the final death toll will be.

In a tweet on Saturday morning the US president thanked Bahamian prime minister Hubert Minnis for his "very gracious and kind words" that "without the help of the United States and me, their would have been many more casualties".

He then went on to thank FEMA, the US Coast Guard, and the "brave" people on the Bahamas.

Bahama leaders believe hundreds and perhaps thousands remained missing in the archipelago nation of about 400,000 people, even as the official death toll rose only to 43 as of late on Friday.

The most powerful hurricane on record to hit the Bahamas levelled some neighbourhoods, swallowed others with storm surges and caused what one official described as a "staggering" number of deaths.

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