Hurricane Dorian’s path and destruction

Our live coverage of Hurricane Dorian has ended here, but recovery efforts around the Bahamas continue while the storm works its way up the East coast.

Here’s where things stand now:

You can continue following the latest on Hurricane Dorian on Saturday here.

Floodwaters have receded to about two feet on North Carolina’s Ocracoke Island, Donnie Shumate, public information officer for Hyde County, tells CNN.

For comparison, earlier today, residents reported the water was around seven feet above ground during the height of the storm.

Shumate said that residents have called this the worst flooding they’ve seen.

Tideland EMC, an energy company in North Carolina, said flooding in the outer banks has affected its office, too.

The company tweeted video of the floodwaters in Ocracoke Friday afternoon.

Ted Curry was one of hundreds of Bahamians who spent Friday at either the Leonard M. Thompson International Airport or the Marsh Harbour ferry attempting to leave for Nassau.

Curry, of Cedar Harbour in the Bahamas, captured videos showing both the devastation at the airport and the hundreds of people trying to leave. Watch more in the clips below:

The Bahamian Ministry of Financial Services, Trade & Industry and Immigration said it will help anyone who needs assistance regardless of their immigration status.

The agency added that its “concentration is on assisting with humanitarian efforts to rescue and save lives regardless of place of origin, nationality or immigration status.”

“While we are obligated to, and will continue to, secure our borders all domestic apprehension exercises in the affected areas are suspended,” the statement said.

The Bahamian Immigration Department is asking “all in our community to assist as best as they can with the humanitarian efforts underway.”

It’s high tide in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, part of the states barrier islands, and the ocean water is approaching the beaches’ dunes. Video from the beach captured violent waves and whipping winds.

Kill Devil Hills is part of Dare County, which ordered mandatory evacuations for all residents ahead of the hurricane.

But not everyone headed those warning:

“This is a state where they’ve prepared for three hurricanes in the last three years. Some people felt comfortable to ride it out,” CNN’s Alexandra Field reported.

Watch more:

North Carolina Director of Emergency Management Mike Sprayberry said officials have received reports that hundreds of people may be trapped on the barrier islands in Dare and Hyde counties.

He says they do not have any official number of people who may be stuck.

Hyde County is now preparing to evacuate Ocracoke residents by air, according to a tweet from the county. 

Striking satellite images show the Bahamas before and after Hurricane Dorian hit the islands.

Maxar Technologies captured the after images on Thursday, days after Dorian hit the Bahamas as a devastating Category 5 storm.  

Here’s the side-by-side images of northwestern Marsh Harbour:

And here’s Green Turtle Cay:

North Carolina’s Hyde County is preparing to evacuate Ocracoke residents by air, according to a tweet from the county. 

The county has asked any residents who want to evacuate to contact the Emergency Operations Center so they can get a head count and make arrangements, another tweet said. 

Residents who choose to evacuate will be flown to a shelter in Washington County. 

They have not yet determined what time they will start evacuating residents.

North Carolina is extending early voting in four counties impacted by Hurricane Dorian.

Residents will be able to cast their votes today and Saturday in the high profile NC-9 special Congressional election. 

The candidates running include Dan McCready, Dan Bishop, Allen Smith, and Jeff Scott, according to ballotpedia.org.

The counties had to close early voting operations during the storm, State Board of Elections executive director Karen Brinson Bell said. 

Bahamas resident Joey Saunders told CNN he and his son slept in trees for two days after Hurricane Dorian destroyed their home with flood waters.

Saunders said it was early in the morning when the water reached the third floor of his home in Grand Bahama, one of the areas hit hardest by Dorian. Their home has 32-foot ceilings — and the water reached the very top, he said.

The current carried away his 25-year-old son, he told CNN’s Patrick Oppmann. They were separated for two days, sleeping in trees, before they reconnected.

“It’s a miracle that we survived. It’s a miracle,” Saunders told CNN.

Watch more:

Jason Wells has lived on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina since 1976, with his family heritage going back generations. He said the flooding from Hurricane Dorian is the worst he’s every experienced.

All Wells and his family can do right now is hope that the water has receded enough and that the storm is far enough so the area doesn’t flood again, he said.

“Several people were rescued from their upper floors or attics by boat or from Good Samaritans,” Wells said.

Here are some photos he took of the flood waters:

Joe Chestnut’s parents’ home on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina sits on 5-foot stilts.

As Hurricane Dorian batters the island, the water has risen about 18 inches from the house, he said.

Chestnut told CNN that his parents are trying to conserve cell battery since they lost power earlier in the day. He’s not sure where they stand right now. 

Watch video from the house’s deck:

CNN’s Patrick Oppmann just reached Bevans Town on the island of Grand Bahama yesterday. The water had been too high until then to reach the town, which was devastated by Hurricane Dorian.

Entire swaths of asphalt were swept away in the storm, turning roads into beaches.

“It has just absolutely torn off sections of roads, whole houses,” he said,

Watch more:

Shawn Curry, 37, has spent the past four days living in absolute panic, unsure whether his family on Little Abaco in the Bahamas had survived Hurricane Dorian.

That anxiety was alleviated Thursday when Curry finally heard from his brother Wilfred, who shared details of the destruction Dorian had inflicted on his community.

Wilfred Curry and his father were attempting to gather food and water from Marsh Harbour when their trip was thwarted by floodwaters that had destroyed the main bridge connecting their home in Cedar Harbour with Cooperstown on the greater island, Curry said. Dorian has decimated the northern Bahamas after lingering over the area for days. The death toll Friday morning was 30.

“I heard their voice and got clear indication they were alive. It was a feeling of tremendous relief,” Curry said in a phone call from Philadelphia where he lives. “It was almost like a weight had been lifted.”

Curry’s family was ultimately able to cross over to Cooperstown using a boat but that hasn’t stopped him from worrying about their access to supplies. Curry hopes to visit them next week.

Check out the video of the flooded bridge Wilfred Curry shared with his brother:

Rock star Lenny Kravitz, who has roots in the Bahamas, told CNN he supports a proposal put forth by members of Congress asking the Trump administration to waive visa requirements so that more Bahamians could come to the US.

Kravitz said:

Watch more:

There are reports of flooding in the eastern part of Carteret County in North Carolina, including Cedar Island and Harkers Island, according to Jaime Long, spokesperson for Carteret County Emergency Management.

Those two areas are primarily rural with some annual residents and many secondary homes (rentals).

The county did not perform and rescues overnight and so far, the number of people affected by the storm is low, Long said.

Here’s what else is going on in Carteret County:

Dorian is still a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, according to the 11 a.m. ET advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

The hurricane is about 50 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, where it made landfall earlier today. It’s 460 miles away from Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Here’s a look at the latest predicted path for Dorian:

CNN’s Patrick Oppmann is in Bevans Town on the Island of Grand Bahama, one of the areas most devastated by Hurricane Dorian.

He said the area is in ruins.

“Every house, every structure, every life has been essentially destroyed in this area,” he said.

The official death toll stands at 30 in the Bahamas — but officials have warned that will rise as recovery efforts continue. Oppman said residents in Bevans Town told him they recovered five bodies yesterday.

“When we were driving up, we could smell the smell of death,” he said.

Watch more:

Roads are flooding on Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island. The North Carolina Department of Transportation shared these images of the storm.

Hurricane Dorian made landfall on Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, as a Category 1 storm earlier this morning.