McLEAN’S TOWN CAY, Bahamas (AP) — Hurricane Dorian struck the northern Bahamas on Sunday as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, its record 185 mph winds ripping off roofs, overturning cars and tearing down power lines as hundreds hunkered in schools, churches, and shelters.

Dorian hit land in Elbow Cay in the Abaco Islands at 12:40 pm, and then made a second landfall near Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island at 2:00 pm, after authorities made last-minute pleas for those in low-lying areas to evacuate.

“It’s devastating,” said Joy Jibrilu, director general of the Bahamas’ Ministry of Tourism and Aviation. “There has been huge damage to property and infrastructure. Luckily, no loss of life reported.”

With its maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph), it tied the record for the most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever to come ashore, equalling the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 before the storms were named.

Millions from Florida to the Carolinas kept a wary eye on the slow-moving Dorian amid indications it would veer sharply north-eastward after passing The Bahamas and tracking up the US south-east seaboard. But authorities warned that even if its core did not make US landfall, the potent storm would likely hammer the coast with powerful winds and heavy surf.

The only recorded storm that was more powerful was Hurricane Allen in 1980, with its 190 mph winds. That storm did not make landfall.

With gusts over 220 mph and a storm surge of 18-23 feet, Dorian was moving west at 7 mph (11 kph). “Catastrophic conditions” were reported in The Abaco Islands, and the storm was expected to cross Grand Bahama later in the day “with all its fury,” the centre said.

In the northern stretches of the archipelago, hotels, closed, residents boarded up homes and officials hired boats to move people to bigger islands.

Video that was described by Jibrilu and government spokesman Kevin Harris as being sent by Abaco residents showed homes missing parts of their roofs, downed power lines, and smashed and overturned cars. One showed floodwaters rushing through the streets of an unidentified town at nearly the height of a car roof.

Earlier, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis warned that any “who do not evacuate are placing themselves in extreme danger and can expect a catastrophic consequence”.

The Government opened 14 shelters across the Bahamas. Dozens ignored evacuation orders, officials said.

“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.”

Bahamas radio station ZNS Bahamas reported that a mother and child in central Grand Bahama called to say they were sheltering in a closet and seeking help from police.

Silbert Mills, owner of Bahamas Christian Network, said trees and power lines were torn down in the Abaco Islands and some roads were impassable.

“The winds are howling like we’ve never, ever experienced before,” said Mills, 59, who planned to ride out the hurricane with his family in the concrete home he built 41 years ago in central Abaco.

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.

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

Earlier Saturday, skiffs shuttled between outlying fishing villages and McLean’s Town, a settlement of a few dozen homes at the eastern end of Grand Bahama island, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Florida’s Atlantic coast. Most came from Sweetings Cay, a fishing town of a few hundred people about 5 feet (1.5 meters) above sea level.

“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.”

But Jack Pittard, a 76-year-old American who has visited the Bahamas for 40 years, said he has decided to ride out the storm — his first hurricane — in the Abaco Islands.

He said he battened down his house to spend the storm in a nearby duplex. He noted the ocean is quite deep near where he’s staying, and there’s a cay that provides protection.

A short video from Pittard about 2:30 pm showed winds shaking his home and ripping off its siding.

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

Over two or three days, the hurricane could dump as much as 4 feet (1 metre) of rain, in addition to the winds and storm surge, said private meteorologist Ryan Maue.

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 of Nassau stayed open.

Jeffrey Allen, who lives in Freeport on Grand Bahama, said he had learned after several storms that damage predictions sometimes don’t materialise, but he still takes 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. Homes are required to have metal reinforcements for roof beams to withstand winds into the upper limits of a Category 4 hurricane, and compliance is generally tight for those who can afford it. Risks are higher in poorer communities, with wooden homes in lower-lying areas.