The Department of Meteorology warned on Wednesday that Hurricane Dorian is making a turn towards the Northwest Bahamas after just missing the southern islands.  

The department has been tracking the storm’s path and said the storm will affect mostly North Eleuthera, Abaco and Grand Bahama. 

On Wednesday morning the alert for Southeast Bahamas was discontinued.

The Department of Meteorology Senior Deputy Director Jeffery Simmons said the storm will make land fall on Thursday.

“It is expected that Dorian will intensify and also expand in terms of size,” Simmons said.

“Right now, it’s a rather compact storm and it’s still a tropical storm because over the past few days it was actually passing through some hostile environment, but now as it moves pass Puerto Rico, which we expect to happen tonight, Dorian will now enter into more formable environments.

“It will be open waters. Waters out there are warm. Conditions are favourable.  So we expect Dorian to be actually a hurricane within the next two-three days and so as Dorian passes parallel to the islands and yes, we do expect some shower activities and some winds.”             

By Wednesday afternoon, Dorian strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane. 

National Emergency Management Agency Director Captain Stephen Russell urged Bahamians to be prepared for not only this upcoming storm, but the remaining 100 days of the hurricane season. 

“That’s why we’re saying people should be resilient. You know a storm is coming. You have three to four days’ notice when a storm approaches you,” Russell said.

“You know what is required to secure your home, your property, your business and your assets. That’s why we stress for persons to be prepared.”