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Hurricane Dorian pounds Bahamas, set to impact swath of US East Coast

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Hurricane Dorian pounds Bahamas, set to impact swath of US East Coast

Hurricane Dorian is slowly moving toward the U.S. mainland after delivering a devastating blow to the Bahamas over the Labor Day weekend.

At 2 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center reported that Dorian was a Category 2 storm and was located about 65 miles north of Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, and 105 miles east of Fort Pierce, Fla. It was moving northwest at 5 mph with sustained winds of 110 mph. Though the storm's intensity has declined, its wind field has expanded.

As of the latest advisory, the center of Dorian's circulation is forecast to remain offshore, but coastal communities from Florida to North Carolina are likely to experience high winds, storm surge and a deluge of rain as it moves first northwest, then turns northeast along the coastline.

A hurricane warning is in effect from Jupiter Inlet to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and from north of Edisto Beach to South Santee River, S.C. A storm surge warning is in effect from Jupiter Inlet, Fla., to South Santee River, S.C., while a storm surge watch was issued for north of South Santee River, S.C., to Cape Lookout, N.C.

Hurricane watches are in effect from north of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., to Edisto Beach, S.C., from South Santee River, S.C., to Duck N.C., and for the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. Tropical storm warnings are in effect in parts of the Bahamas, for areas of Florida from Deerfield Beach to Jupiter Inlet, and for the coastline covered by the hurricane watch south of Edisto Beach, S.C.

Dorian made landfall in the Bahamas as a Category 5 hurricane on Sept. 1, packing sustained winds of 185 mph with gusts to 220 mph. At least five deaths have been attributed to the storm. In addition to the wind and storm surge, the National Hurricane Center said the Bahamas would see isolated storm totals of 30 inches of rain.

The storm's track has changed significantly since Aug. 30, when it had been pointed at Florida. Some estimates called for potential losses of between $10 billion and $20 billion had Dorian come ashore on the Florida coast as a major hurricane.

Credit Suisse analyst Andrew Kligerman in a Sept. 3 note said losses in Florida will most likely be well toward the lower end of that range. American International Group Inc. alone will post in "the low end of $275 million to $450 million" in net pretax catastrophe losses, he estimated.

Kligerman likened the path Dorian is taking to that of Hurricane Matthew, which skirted the southeast U.S. coastline in 2016 and caused $10.8 billion in damages.