A handout photo made available by NASA shows a natural-color satellite image of Hurricane Dorian at 2:05 pm Eastern Daylight Time

Five people have been killed by Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, the nation's prime minister has revealed, as Donald Trump spent part of the day playing golf.

As the category 4 storm pummelled the Bahamas with 145mph winds, triggering huge damage and massive flooding, the nation’s prime minister said at least five people had been killed.

“We are in the midst of a historic tragedy,” Hubert Minnis told reporters, saying the deaths had occurred on the Abaco Islands, which were where Dorian first made landfall on Sunday.

He said people on nearby Great Bahama island who are in serious distress and that rescue crews would respond once weather conditions permitted them to do so.

“This is the time for us as Bahamians to show our love, our care and our compassion,“ Mr Minnis said at a press conference on Tuesday evening. “Your compassion at this most difficult hour will bring healing and hope to those who are traumatised by this destructive hurricane.”

As officials in the Bahamas urged residents to find flotation devices and use hammers to break out of their attics if they were threatened by the massive flooding, Mr Trump spent part of the day at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. Reports said it was 289th day he has spent at a Trump property and the 227th, he has enjoyed at one of his golf clubs since becoming president.

Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina have all declared states of emergency as Hurricane Dorian approaches the US mainland.

South Carolina's governor Henry McMaster has ordered a mandatory evacuation of the entire coast of the state amid Dorian's threat.

The order, which covers about 830,000 people

Over the weekend, Mr Trump cancelled a trip to Poland to monitor the federal response to the storm, which he has warned could be “one of the largest hurricanes ever”.