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(CNN) - Hurricane Dorian may have left the Bahamas a long time ago, but the islands are just beginning to deal with the aftermath.
Less than a week after the passage of the category 5 hurricane, the death of 45 people was confirmed, and that number is expected to increase dramatically, authorities say. Hundreds are still missing, almost 70,000 have been left homeless by the disaster and hundreds more are desperately looking for a way out.
- The future is uncertain for 70,000 in the Bahamas left homeless by Dorian
During the weekend, nearly 1,500 evacuees arrived in Palm Beach, Florida, aboard the Grand Celebration humanitarian cruise. All of them were duly documented to enter the country, said the Customs and Border Protection of the United States (CBP).
People wait to be evacuated to Nassau from Great Abaco, on September 7. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP / Getty Images)
But on Sunday the story was different.
In a social media video taken aboard a ferry leaving the Bahamas, posted on Twitter by reporter Brian Entin of WSVN, affiliated with CNN, an unidentified person announces through a loudspeaker that anyone traveling to the United States United without a visa must disembark.
Entin told CNN that he was on a Balearia ferry from Freeport to Fort Lauderdale when the announcement was made on Sunday. His video shows families with children disembarking from the ferry. A woman told Entin that up to 130 people got off the ship after the announcement.
Another announcement just made ordering any Bahamian without a US visa to disembark ferry - not allowed to evacuate. They were told before boarding it was ok with Bahamian passport and clean polce record. Something has now changed. pic.twitter.com/m7CnZxoiMM
- Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) September 9, 2019
"CBP was notified of a vessel that was preparing to embark an unknown number of passengers in Freeport and requested that the vessel operator coordinate with US government officials and the Bahamas in Nassau before leaving the Bahamas." CBP said Sunday in a statement.
“All persons arriving in the United States from another country must report to a CBP officer for inspection at an official CBP port of entry. Everyone must have a valid identity and travel documents, ”said the agency. “CBP has a prior authorization operation in Nassau. CBP is committed to carrying out our tasks with professionalism and efficiency, facilitating travel and legitimate international trade. ”
- So you can help the victims of Hurricane Dorian
On its website, CBP says that visas are not required for residents of the Bahamas who fly to the United States from the islands if they also meet other criteria, such as having a valid passport or travel documents, not having a criminal record and carrying a police certificate issued in the last six months.
“CBP is confident that transport companies, both in the air and at sea, are committed to guaranteeing the safety and well-being of anyone who has been affected by this tragedy and that requires transparent communication and adequate resource planning to receive any arrival, ”CBP said in its statement on Sunday.
It was not immediately clear what documents are required for Bahamians traveling by boat.
"This is the height of cruelty, denying help to those who need it most," said Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke on Twitter on Sunday night. "This administration has said that the words in the Statue of Liberty should be rewritten and, in their actions, they are already changing who we are as a country."
"Almost as if they had dropped nuclear bombs"
Aerial view of the damage on Elbow Key Island, in the Bahamas, on September 7. (Photo by Jose Jimenez / Getty Images)
By Friday, the US Coast Guard had rescued more than 230 people from the islands.
Those who lived through the storm bring horrible stories of survival: jumping rooftops or swimming in boats to try to escape the violent waters. Some reported that they still had missing relatives and others remembered seeing friends and neighbors drowning in the storm.
USAID Administrator Mark Green told reporters on Sunday that his agency is leading the US government's humanitarian relief efforts. UU. in the Bahamas by providing "vital assistance and lifeguards: food, water, sanitation, emergency shelter and medical care necessary to facilitate the response of the Bahamas government."
On Saturday, USAID announced an additional $ 1 million in humanitarian assistance to help affected people in the Bahamas. That brings the agency's total financing to more than 2.8 million dollars.
Green said he toured Abaco and other parts of the Bahamas after the hurricane and that some areas looked "almost as if they had dropped nuclear bombs."
Search and rescue operations do not stop
Local authorities believe there are people buried under the rubble, but they have no way of knowing how many or when they will be able to reach them.
Search and rescue personnel who arrived with corpse detection dogs in the Abaco Islands carried body bags and refrigerators to store human remains, said Joy Jibrilu, general director of the country's ministry of tourism and aviation.
Marsh Harbor, the largest city in the Abacos, was one of the most affected. A truck carried at least two bodies to an impromptu morgue on Saturday. Funerals told CNN that the difficulty in reaching the dead was slowing their work. Diving equipment was needed to recover many submerged bodies, they said.
Authorities have said the current death toll may increase as search and rescue operations begin and begin examining the remains. Entire neighborhoods were cleared in the most affected areas of Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands, trees and poles were demolished and ships dispersed.
The public should prepare for "unimaginable information about the number of dead and human suffering," Health Minister Duane Sands told Guardian Radio 96.9 FM.
Jeremy Grisham, Alex Gee, Hollie Silverman, Artemis Moshtaghian and Ray Sanchez of CNN contributed to this report.
Bahamas, Hurricane Dorian