Bahamas braces for Hurricane Isaias

New Hurricane Isaias has kept on a path expected to take it to the US east coast by the weekend as it approaches the Bahamas, parts of which are still recovering from the devastation of last year's Hurricane Dorian.

Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 130km/h early Friday and was centered about 45km/h southeast of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas, the US National Hurricane Center said. It was moving northwest at 30km/h.

It was forecast pass over the southeastern Bahamas during the night, be near the central Bahamas late Friday and move near or over the northwestern Bahamas and near southern Florida on Saturday.

On Thursday while still a tropical storm, Isaias knocked out power, toppled trees and caused widespread flooding and small landslides in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where at least 35 people were rescued from floodwaters and one person remained missing.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico were left without power and water.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the northwestern Bahamas, including Andros Island, New Providence, Eleuthera, Abaco Islands, Berry Islands, Grand Bahama and Bimini.

Two of those islands, Abaco and Grand Bahama, were battered by Dorian, a category five storm that hovered over the area for two days and killed at least 70 people, with more than 280 reported missing. People are still living in tents on both islands, and officials said crews were trying to remove leftover debris ahead of Isaias.