Hurricane Dorian bears down on the Carolinas

Rain bands from Hurricane Dorian produced tornadoes across the Carolina coasts as the storm scraped the southeastern United States on Thursday. The hurricane briefly kicked up to a Category 3 but settled back down to a Category 2 with winds at 110 mph. The storm brought flooding to Charleston, S.C., and left more than 200,000 customers in South Carolina without power by midday Thursday. The National Weather Service issued hurricane warnings for the North and South Carolina coasts up to Virginia. The National Hurricane Center projected Dorian will pass near or over the North Carolina Outer Banks on Friday before moving away from the coastline.

How are things in the Bahamas? The death toll in the Bahamas rose to 20, and large swaths of the northern islands are in ruins. One estimate suggested the storm destroyed or damaged nearly half the homes of the 70,000 residents of Abaco and Grand Bahama. The United Nations and Red Cross have joined Bahamian police and marines, the U.S. Coast Guard, the British Royal Navy, and other organizations in the relief effort.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report on what U.S. businesses are doing to help prepare for Dorian and track the storm’s progress at the National Hurricane Center.