Dorian — she’s a fickle one.
Forecasters warned residents of Georgia and the Carolinas that Hurricane Dorian, currently headed for the Bahamas before bearing down on the US, could feel the brunt of the dangerous, slow-moving storm starting Tuesday.
Even so, Florida is not yet out of the woods.
The Category 4 storm is predicted to turn north around Freeport, the Bahamas, which is just 85 miles from the Florida coast.
That means that even without landfall, the Sunshine State will still see heavy rain, high winds and a coastal storm surge.
The National Hurricane Center said the Atlantic coast of Florida could receive up to 10 inches of rain, and high winds could extend inland across much of the state.
And the storm may yet take more direct swing at Florida.
“It’s going to be really close,” National Weather Service meteorologist Lance Wood told The Post.
While the current forecast track suggests the storm will head farther north, it’s difficult to predict exactly where it will hit hardest, in part because it’s expected to slow down even more than its current 7-mph crawl across the Caribbean.
“It’s hard to know right now exactly when Dorian will turn,” Wood said.
The forecaster said the deep, warm water over which Dorian will sit is “like high-octane fuel” for a hurricane.
“Do not be foolish and try to brave out this hurricane,” Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said as the forecast showed the ’cane closing in on Grand Bahama Island, a popular vacation destination, with heavy rain and winds up to 155 mph.
“The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life.”
Forecasters said Dorian will strike some Bahamian islands Sunday; late Saturday, locals and stranded tourists scrambled into government shelters in schools, churches and other buildings.
Government spokesman Kevin Harris told The Associated Press that the hurricane was expected to affect some 73,000 residents and 21,000 homes. He said authorities had closed airports in The Abaco Islands, Grand Bahama and Bimini, but Lynden Pindling International Airport in the capital of Nassau would remain open.
Small skiffs rented by authorities ran back and forth between outlying fishing communities and McLean’s Town, a settlement of a few dozen homes on the eastern end of Grand Bahama island, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Florida’s Atlantic coast.
Most were coming from Sweeting Cay, a fishing town of a few hundred people that is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) above sea level and was expected to be left completely underwater.
