Article By The Associated Press // EEW Magazine // News

The government in the Bahamas says the death toll from Hurricane Dorian has risen to 44. Health Minister Duane Sands confirmed the toll in a WhatsApp message to The Associated Press.

Officials have warned that the number of deaths is likely to rise as security forces and other teams search devastated areas of the northern Bahamas. The government also announced a telephone hotline where Bahamians can call to report family members who have been unaccounted for since the storm.

At least five deaths have been blamed on the storm in the Southeastern U.S. and one in Puerto Rico.

The government of the Bahamas says more than 900 members of the Bahamian police and military are on Abaco and Grand Bahama islands to help with hurricane relief.

The government also says 120 Jamaican security personnel arrived in the Bahamas on Saturday evening and 100 troops from Trinidad and Tobago are to arrive Sunday as part of the aid effort in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.

The Bahamas says “large numbers of security forces” from Britain and the United States are already involved in search, rescue and recovery operations.

About 250 people who lost their homes when Hurricane Dorian hit the northern Bahamas have arrived in the Bahamian capital after a 13-hour trip on a government-chartered ferry.

Passengers on the “Sea Wind” ferry arrived in Nassau on Saturday, joining hundreds of other people from Abaco and Grand Bahama islands who were desperate to escape harsh conditions there.

Dorian has knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people, toppled a huge construction crane and ripped roofs off apartments in the city of Halifax.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the post-tropical cyclone was centered about 55 miles (90 kilometers) east-northeast of Anticosti Island Sunday morning and had top sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph). It was heading to the north-northwest, roughly up the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Meanwhile, authorities in the Bahamas were scrambling to find shelter for tens of thousands left homeless by a storm that struck with Category 5 force.

The storm is blamed for at least 49 deaths.

To help victims of Hurricane Dorian, donate to American Red Cross.