US citizens missing on cargo ship in hurricane

“Normally my husband tells me that they have a different route that they take to go around the storm“, said Rochelle Hamm, whose husband, Frank, is a crew member. S. citizens and five from Poland. Doss says the crew of a C-130 airplane spotted the life ring Saturday and a helicopter crew confirmed it was from the El Faro. “We are doing everything we can to bring back everyone alive”, said Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash, Coast Guard spokesperson.

The ship, named El Faro, was traveling to Jacksonville, Fla. from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A vehicle splashes through a puddle as heavy rain falls during the early morning hours, Thursday, October 1, 2015, in Spartanburg, S.C, Officials say one person has died in street flooding in Spartanburg.

The cargo ship went missing when Hurricane Joaquin was a Category 4 storm.

Search crews have already covered approximately 850 square nautical miles (2,900 square kilometers).

The center said swells generated by Joaquin will continue to affect portions of the Bahamas over the next few days.

Officials were investigating reports of shelters being damaged and flooded, as well as two boats with a total of five people that remained missing.

Residents reached by relatives said they were “trapped in their homes, and reported feeling as if their structures were caving in”, Russell added.

“The fact that there has been no communications is not good news”, Lloyd said.

They said scores of homes had already been evacuated because of flooding, including in the coastal county that includes Myrtle Beach. As for the storm now threatening Princeville, Vines said: “All of that’s in God’s hands”.

“We might even see a little sunshine break through the clouds during the afternoon”. There were no reports of casualties on the islands, but the local media reported dozens of people stranded in their homes by rising floodwaters. “God controls the storm”.

The Hurricane Hunter plane indicated that the maximum sustained winds have increased to near 155 miles per hour with higher gusts.

An easterly shift in the forecast track meant it was now expected to pass well off the USA eastern seaboard, according to the Miami-based NHC.

The U.S. east coast – which had had heavy rains in the days leading up to the arrival of Joaquin – avoided a direct hit, but nevertheless suffered heavy rain from outer bands of the powerful, slow-moving storm.

“I know we like to focus on the hurricane”, said David Novak, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

Storm Team 5 meteorologist Mike Wankum said most of the computer models are in alignment that the storm will stay far off the east coast of the United States.

Even if Hurricane Joaquin remains offshore, “strong onshore winds associated with a frontal system” are expected through the weekend, the National Weather Service said, along the coasts of the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern states.

The storm was expected to begin moving away from the Bahamas by late Friday night and its hurricane-force winds were forecast to miss the larger Bahamas islands and the main cities and cruise ship ports of Freeport and Nassau.

Authorities in the nearby Turks & Caicos Islands closed all airports, schools and government offices.

A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch were issued for Bermuda.