Hurricane Frances plowed through the Bahamas' biggest city Friday, unleashing howling wind that blew out windows and set off bursts of looting. One man was electrocuted as he struggled to fill his generator.
Streets were almost deserted in Nassau, home to more than two-thirds of the country's 300,000 people. Fallen trees, debris and satellite dishes that had been yanked from their mountings littered roadways and three boats were destroyed.Police reported scattered looting, including a man who broke into a gas station. Several windows in downtown buildings had been blown out.
The hurricane's maximum sustained wind dropped from 145 mph to 120 mph during the night, prompting forecasters to downgrade it to a Category 3 storm. But Frances still lashed Nassau with tropical storm force winds that knocked out power in many parts.
Telephones lines on the southern islands of Abaco, Mayaguana and Acklins were lost.
"While intensity has decreased a little bit overnight, it's still a major Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale and has the potential to regain its former strength," said Jamie Rhome, a meteorologist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The hurricane was expected to hit Freeport by early Saturday. Unlike Nassau, Freeport has fewer skyscrapers and its buildings are better constructed.
Still, fearful residents boarded their homes and hunkered down inside to ride out the storm, a day after it battered the nation's sparsely populated southeastern islands on Thursday.
Kenrad Delaney, 18, died in Nassau on Friday morning after receiving an elecric shock while filling a family generator with diesel, police said. The family heard a scream and found him lying on the floor. He died after being taken to the hospital.
Kenrad Delaney, 18, was killed Friday in Nassau while filling a generator with diesel, police said. His family heard a scream and found him lying on the floor. The exact cause of death was under investigation.
Guests at the 2,300-room Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, outside of Nassau, were told to leave their rooms and stay in a conference room.
"I came for a week of sunshine and beaches in the Bahamas and can't believe this happening," said Jo Pain, a 37-year-old toy buyer from London. "It's frightening. The rain is pelting down, the winds are incredible and it's so loud out there."
Sustained winds of 45 mph whipped through the streets of Nassau, with gusts of up to 75 mph and stronger blasts expected. Intermittent downpours and gusts reached Freeport on Grand Bahama Island, where emergency administrator Alexander E. Williams said about 600 checked in to shelters set up in schools and churches.
"We're scared, really," said Maxine Skinner, 45, a tourist visiting from Reading, England, who was evacuated from a beachfront resort and spent the night in a church.
On Thursday, the hurricane hit the sparsely populated southeastern Bahamas. Towering waves and winds of 120 mph were reported on San Salvador Island, home to more than 900 people, but no deaths or major damage were reported. Electricity and phone services were down on Long Island, which has about 3,000 residents.
Emergency officials said a high school's roof on Long Island had been ripped off and residents were reporting severe damage to crops.
As the storm's eye approached the outlying island of Eleuthera on Friday, sustained wind of 100 mph was reported.
Cruise ships were diverted out of Frances' path and many beachfront hotels were evacuated across the chain of more than 700 islands.
The hurricane brushed past Crooked Island and Acklins Island home to about 1,100 people late Thursday, knocking out power and phones but doing only minimal damage, said Alfred Gray, the agriculture and fisheries minister.
When Hurricane Floyd blew through the Bahamas in 1999, it flooded neighborhoods, left the Grand Bahama airport underwater and closed many hotels.
Officials said Frances left only minor damage in the Turks and Caicos Islands on Wednesday, damaging more than a dozen houses. One woman was rescued when her roof blew off, but the eye missed the heart of the British territory.
The U.S. Embassy in Nassau evacuated about 200 non-emergency employees and their families as Frances neared.
At 11 a.m. EDT, the hurricane's eye was about 40 miles northwest of Eleuthera Island and about 220 miles east-southeast of Florida, moving west-northwest at 9 mph.
A hurricane warning was up for most of Florida's east coast, stretching more than 300 miles. About 2.5 million residents were told to clear out the biggest evacuation request in the state's history.
Forecasters said the brunt of the hurricane could begin to hit Florida early Saturday, less than three weeks after Hurricane Charley raked Florida's western coast with 145 mph winds, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing 27 people.
Meanwhile, a new tropical depression formed far out in the Atlantic, with winds near 30 mph and higher gusts.
Associated Press writers Adam Jankiewicz in Nassau and Ian James in Freeport, contributed to this report.
