This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Americans should “pray for the people in the Bahamas”, Donald Trump said on Sunday, as they were “hit like never before” by Hurricane Dorian, the category 5 storm that made landfall on the northern islands on Sunday with what the president said were “almost 200mph winds”.

Hurricane Dorian strengthens to 'catastrophic' category 5 storm Read more

As large waves and heavy winds pounded the northern Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said more soberly Dorian was the strongest hurricane to hit the area in modern times, barrelling into the islands with sustained winds of more than 180mph and gusts higher than that.

The NHC said Dorian made a second landfall at 2pm, on Great Abaco Island near Marsh Harbour at 185mph. That was tied for the strongest Atlantic hurricane landfall on record, with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.

Bahamian authorities made a last-minute plea for those in low-lying areas to evacuate. The NHC said Dorian was moving west at 7mph, with “catastrophic conditions” in the Abaco Islands and expected across Grand Bahama later in the day.

“It’s going to be really, really bad for the Bahamas,” said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said, adding: “Abaco is going to get wiped.”

Hundreds hunkered down in schools, churches and other shelters. Power and water outages were reported, as authorities warned that all government workers would remain indoors once winds reached 40mph.

In the US, millions from Florida to the Carolinas kept a wary eye on Dorian amid indications it would veer sharply north-east after passing the Bahamas and track up the south-eastern US seaboard.

The end could be fatal. We ask you, we beg you, we plead with you to get to a place of safety Samuel Butler, assistant police commissioner

A hurricane watch was in effect for Florida from the north of Deerfield Beach to the Volusia-Brevard county line. Hurricane conditions were possible within the watch area by late Monday or early Tuesday, the NHC said, warning that even if its core did not make landfall, the storm would likely hammer coastal areas with powerful winds and heavy surf.

In the northern stretches of the Bahamas archipelago, hotels closed, residents boarded up homes and officials hired boats to move people to bigger islands. The prime minister, Hubert Minnis, said any “who do not evacuate are placing themselves in extreme danger and can expect a catastrophic consequence”.

Kwasi Thompson, minister of state for Grand Bahama, said: “Please, please heed the warning. We have no more time available.”

Officials said dozens were ignoring evacuation orders.

“The end could be fatal,” said Samuel Butler, assistant police commissioner. “We ask you, we beg you, we plead with you to get to a place of safety.”

Among those refusing to leave were 32 people in Sweetings Cay and a group that sought safety in Old Bahama Bay resort, which officials said was not safe. Butler said officials were closing certain roads and those on the other side would be stranded. The government had opened 14 shelters.

“We cannot stress the amount of devastation and catastrophic impact that Hurricane Dorian is expected to bring,” said Shavonne Moxey-Bonamy, the Bahamas chief meteorologist.

On Saturday, small skiffs shuttled between outlying fishing communities and McLean’s Town, a settlement of a few dozen homes at the eastern end of Grand Bahama, about 150 miles from Florida.

“We’re not taking no chances,” said Margaret Bassett, a ferry boat driver for the Deep Water Cay resort. “They said evacuate, you have to evacuate.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Anastacia Makey and her family sits on cots with other residents inside a church opened as a shelter, in Freeport on Grand Bahama. Photograph: Ramón Espinosa/AP

But Jack Pittard, a 76-year-old American who has been traveling to the Bahamas for 40 years, said he had decided to ride out the storm in the Abaco Islands. He said it would be the first hurricane he had experienced.

“There’s fear,” he said by phone on Sunday as the eyewall approached. “I’m worried about destruction of property, but I don’t believe there’s going to be loss of lives here.”

Pittard said he battened up his house and was spending the storm in a duplex behind a group of cottages. He noted the ocean was quite deep nearby and there was a cay to provide protection, so he did not expect significant storm surge.

Floridians not fazed as Hurricane Dorian’s path keeps state guessing Read more

“I’m not afraid of dying here,” said Pittard, from Lexington, Kentucky.

Government spokesman Kevin Harris said Dorian was expected to affect 73,000 residents and 21,000 homes. Authorities closed airports for the Abaco Islands, Grand Bahama and Bimini, but Lynden Pindling international airport in the capital, Nassau, stayed open.

Jeffrey Allen, who lives in Freeport on Grand Bahama, said he had learned that damage predictions sometimes do not materialize, but he still took precautions.

“It’s almost as if you wait with anticipation, hoping that it’s never as bad as they say it will be. However, you prepare for the worst nonetheless,” he said.

The Bahamas archipelago is frequently hit by hurricanes. Construction codes require homes to have metal reinforcements for roof beams to withstand winds into the upper limits of a category 4 hurricane. Compliance is generally tight for residents who can afford it. Risks are higher in poorer communities, which typically have wooden homes and are generally in lower-lying areas.