volusia county, indian river county, duvall county, nassau county, and st. johns county. they ve all issued new orders today. of course, martin, palm beach, brevard, st. lucie, had issued orders already. we also have a number of counties that issued voluntary evacuation orders. osiola, glades, okachobee island. if you re in an area that has flooded in prior hurricanes and you re given a voluntary evacuation order, you really need to seriously consider heeding that and evacuating. you know, when the water gets high, there s not a whole lot you can do about that. and given the uncertainty of the storm, it s better to err on the side of safety. the coast guard is beginning to lock down some movable bridges to marine traffic, but to be clear, these bridges are still open to motorists, and, of course, if there s any changes to that, you know, we re going to we ll announce that.
freeport, the grand bahama island. it looks like we have a little bit of a lull if we can call interest that. how long do you think you and your crew can stay outside safely? because we know this storm is starting to hover. reporter: absolutely. at other times we can cover a hurricane and be outside for a while. very clearly, this is a storm, the likes of which none of us have ever covered. just, you can t get your mind around how dangerous this storm is. one, because it s incredibly powerful. two, because it is moving slowly. it is over a low-lying area of the bahamas. the bahamas, unlike other islands, doesn t have mountains, does not have high ground. the island i am which has higher ground than many others, it s only about 30 feet above sea level in the highest points. so when you talk about a 20-foot storm surge, it s just leads to a level of destruction that
highest point is about 30 feet. so much of this island starting tonight and tomorrow will likely be under water. you mentioned this being the second strongest hurricane to ever hit the bahamas. the first was andrew. i happened to be on a family vacation in 1992. we buckslled down, myself, my parents, my brother. trees were stripped clean, broken in half, many roofs were gone, people had died in a neighboring island from the storm. and i thought that was the worst devastation i would ever see from a hurricane. and the idea that something worse is coming is really unfathomable to me and it must be unfathomable to the people of the bahamas, people who do not have the housing that we have right now. we re in a pretty sturdy building. there are people who live basically in shacks here, people who live in houses that are not up to code. people live on the coast.
few people have ever had to suffer. that storm is coming this way from the island of abaco. we ve seen a lot of it now on social media, coming from abaco of just horrific destruction, of people who have lost their houses, their roofs, cars flipped over. it is a very clear indication of how deadly this storm is. and it s not done. it will continue to lash abaco. we will continue to feel the effects throughout the night into tomorrow, and then all damon. it is just about the worst scenario. we are in a solid building. we are in a building we have brought a generator with us. we re going to do the best we can for as long as we can. bum your heart goes out to regular bahamians who don t have a solid structure, maybe have the time and resources to prepare properly and are now in the thick of this. we see those winds just lashing the island with those waves growing. thank you, patrick altman.
and right now they are in grave, grave danger and there is nothing that the government can do to help them, at least for the moment. so, patrick, how are they preparing? many people just didn t have time. we talked to some people and they said, well, i ve ridden out previous storms. it s not going to be that bad. maybe it will downgrade to a 3. of course, that s not what happened. it became not only a category 5, it became incredibly dangerous category 5, the most dangerous category 5 the island has seen. unfortunately people are wishing for the best, not preparing for the worst. other people did go to shelters, over 3,000 people here in grand bahama are in shelters right now. but so many other people, for whatever reasons, chose not to evacuate, stayed where they are, and are right now paying the price. oh, my goodness. that does not sound good. praying for them. patrick altman, check back with you in just a bit. in the wake of another mass