The death toll rose from five to seven in the Bahamas as a result of Hurricane Dorian – the most powerful storm on record to hit the islands. The Bahamas's Prime Minister Hubert Minnis predicted a rising death toll and a "massive, coordinated effort" in rebuilding parts of the country from the ruins. 

"We are in the midst of one of the greatest national crises in our country’s history," Minnis told a news conference. "No effort or resources will be held back."

Relief officials reported scenes of utter ruin Tuesday in parts of the Bahamas and rushed to deal with an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the wake of Hurricane Dorian. 

The storm’s punishing winds and muddy brown floodwaters destroyed or severely damaged thousands of homes, crippled hospitals and trapped people in attics.

"It’s total devastation. It’s decimated. Apocalyptic," said Lia Head-Rigby, who helps run a local hurricane relief organization and flew over the Bahamas’ hard-hit Abaco Islands. "It’s not rebuilding something that was there; we have to start again."

She said her representative on Abaco told her that there were "a lot more dead" and that the bodies were being gathered. 

Emergency authorities struggled to reach victims and urged people to hang on.

"We don’t want people thinking we’ve forgotten them. ... We know what your conditions are," Tammy Mitchell of the Bahamas’ National Emergency Management Agency told ZNS Bahamas radio station.

With their heads bowed against heavy wind and rain, rescuers began evacuating people from the storm’s aftermath across Grand Bahama late Tuesday, using jet skis, boats and even a huge bulldozer that cradled children and adults in its digger as it cut through deep waters and carried them to safety.

One rescuer gently scooped up an elderly man in his arms and walked toward a pickup truck waiting to evacuate him and others to higher ground.

Practically parking over a portion of the Bahamas for a day and a half, Dorian pounded the northern Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama with winds up to 295 kph (185 mph) and torrential rain before finally moving into open waters Tuesday on a course for the U.S. state of Florida. Its winds were down to a still-dangerous 175 kph (110 mph), making it a Category 2 storm.

Over two million people along the East Coast of U.S., including Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina were warned to evacuate. While the threat of a direct hit on Florida had all but evaporated, Dorian was expected to pass dangerously close to Georgia and South Carolina — and perhaps strike North Carolina — on Thursday or Friday.

Even if landfall does not occur, the system is likely to cause storm surge and severe flooding, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"Don’t tough it out. Get out," said U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency official Carlos Castillo.

In the Bahamas, Red Cross spokesman Matthew Cochrane said more than 13,000 houses, or about 45 percent of the homes on Grand Bahama and Abaco, were believed to be severely damaged or destroyed. UN officials said more than 60,000 people on the hard-hit islands will need food, and the Red Cross said some 62,000 will need clean drinking water.

"What we are hearing lends credence to the fact that this has been a catastrophic storm and a catastrophic impact," Cochrane said.

Lawson Bates, a staffer for Arkansas-based MedicCorps, flew over Abaco and said: "It looks completely flattened. There’s boats way inland that are flipped over. It’s total devastation."

The Red Cross authorized 500,000 U.S. dollars for the first wave of disaster relief, Cochrane said. And UN humanitarian teams stood ready to go into the stricken areas to help assess damage and the country’s needs, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. The U.S. government also sent a disaster response team.

Abaco and Grand Bahama islands, with a combined population of about 70,000, are known for their marinas, golf courses and all-inclusive resorts. To the south, the Bahamas’ most populous island, New Providence, which includes the capital city, Nassau, and has over a quarter-million people, suffered little damage.

(With input from agencies)