Bahamas: Search and rescue teams are still trying to reach some Bahamian communities isolated by floodwaters and debris after Hurricane Dorian, while the official death toll has risen to 43 and is likely to increase even more, top officials said.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said on Friday 35 were known dead on Abaco Island and eight in Grand Bahama. "We acknowledge that there are many missing and that the number of deaths is expected to significantly increase," he said. "This is one of the stark realities we are facing in this hour of darkness."

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On Saturday morning, several hundred people, many of them Haitian immigrants, waited at Abaco's Marsh Harbour in hopes of leaving the disaster zone on vessels arriving with aid. Bahamian security forces were organising evacuations on a landing craft. Other boats, including yachts and other private craft, were also helping to evacuate people.

Avery Parotti, a 19-year-old bartender, and partner Stephen Chidles, a 26-year- old gas station attendant had been waiting at the port since 1am. During the hurricane, waves lifted a yacht that smashed against a cement wall, which in turn collapsed on their home and destroyed it.