Hotels were shut down and evacuations began as Hurricane Dorian bore down on the northern Bahamas.
The fierce Category 4 storm is set to unleash torrents of rain and howling winds in the region, tough it has been projected to spin farther away from the coast of the Southeast US next week.
Forecasters expect Dorian, packing 150 mph) winds, to hit the northwestern Bahamas on Sunday before curving upward.
The storm's march north could spare the US a direct hit but still threatens Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas with powerful winds and rising ocean water that causes potentially deadly flooding.
In the northern Bahamas, any remaining tourists were sent to government shelters in schools, churches and other buildings offering protection from the storm
"My home is all battened up, and I'm preparing right now to leave in a couple of minutes. ... We're not taking no chances," said Margaret Bassett, 55, a ferry boat driver for the Deep Water Cay resort who chose to leave her home. "They said evacuate, you have to evacuate. It's for the best interests of the people."
Over two or three days, the hurricane could dump as much as 4 feet (1 meter) of rain, unleash devastating winds and whip up an abnormal and dangerous rise in sea level called storm surge, according to private meteorologist Ryan Maue and some of the most reliable computer models.
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis warned that Dorian is a "devastating, dangerous storm".
After battering the northern islands, forecasters said Dorian was expected to dance up the Southeast coastline, staying just off the shores of Florida and Georgia on Tuesday and Wednesday before skirting South Carolina and North Carolina on Thursday.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency Saturday, mobilising state resources to prepare for potential storm effects.
President Donald Trump already declared a state of emergency in Florida and authorised the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster-relief efforts.
The National Hurricane Centre in Miami said the risk of strong winds and rising water will increase along the shores of Georgia and the Carolinas by midweek.
The centre also stressed that Dorian could still hit Florida, where millions of people have been in the storm's changing potential path. But after days of predictions that put the state in the centre of expected landfalls, the hurricane's turn northeast is significant.
Additional reporting by agencies.
