As stalling Hurricane Dorian nears, Florida issues mandatory evacuations

Hurricane Dorian has already proven to be one for the record books, and the storm is far from reaching its maximum potential for havoc.

Over the course of the last several hours Dorian has absolutely battered The Bahamas, earning the distinction of being the strongest storm on record to ever pass over the tropical paradise.

The footage of the devastation was heartbreaking and horrifying.

"That’s my kitchen window that water is hitting, and that has to be a minimum of about 20 feet above the ground." Bahamas Minister for Agriculture Michael Pintard describes flooding from Hurricane Dorian at his house in Grand Bahama. https://t.co/gwEfK4bh8a pic.twitter.com/XxAR2r2RpA

— CNN (@CNN) September 2, 2019

Queens Cove Grand Bahamas ?? #Dorian pic.twitter.com/yDhBwoiy3k

— Juan Carlos Pedreira (@juancpedreira) September 2, 2019

It has been 14 hours now with #Dorian in #Freeport #Bahamas and still this is the roof of a home there and take notice of the wind and rush of the waves of this family already on the top floor of the house! pic.twitter.com/6bWS9RSN8w

— Gilbert NMO Morris (@MorrisMedici) September 2, 2019

Now, as the already deadly storm continues its slow, stalling crawl toward the US mainland, authorities are issuing major evacuation orders.

After wreaking historic havoc in the Bahamas, Hurricane Dorian on Monday was crawling towards the southeastern United States with major hurricane fury, disrupting Americans’ Labor Day celebrations from Florida up to North Carolina.

With uncertainty lingering about Dorian’s path through midweek, millions of people living along the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have been forced to evacuate. In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper issued a State of Emergency on Sunday and urged residents to be prepared and cautious.

“North Carolina has endured flooding from two strong hurricanes in less than three years,” Cooper said in a statement. “Now is the time to prepare for Dorian. To the people of North Carolina, particularly those still recovering in the eastern part of our state, we are working hard to prepare and we are with you.”

In South Carolina and Georgia, Gov. Henry McMaster and Gov. Brian Kemp enacted mandatory evacuations for over 1 million people to take effect on Monday at noon. McMaster signed the Executive Order on Aug. 31, and Kemp signed his Executive Order on Sep. 1, ordering residents living east of I-95 to evacuate.

The extremely slow-moving storm has made rescue efforts in The Bahamas futile for the time being.

Given the density of the populations of the Florida and Georgia coasts, we can only hope that Americans are heeding these warnings.