Chabad Bahamas joined the official government relief effort after Hurricane Dorian battered the area with winds in excess of 110 miles per hour earlier this week.

The unprecedented storm is one of the strongest on record in the Atlantic and claimed the lives of five people.

Homes were destroyed and neighbourhoods flooded in the remote Abaco Islands.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis described the storm as a “historic tragedy” bringing unprecedented extensive” damage to the Bahamas.

Rabbi Sholom and Sheera Bluming, who co-direct Chabad in Nassau, rode out the storm in Bahamas capital after checking in on community members.

Around 1,000 Jewish expats live in the Bahamas while an estimated 100,000 Jews visit the islands every year.

“Nassau was relatively unscathed by Dorian,” said Rabbi Bluming.

“Our current focus is providing relief to people stranded in Abaco, getting in touch with residents there and making sure that supplies and aid get to everyone who needs it.”

Bluming helped coordinate shipments of supplies from South Florida including food, drinking water and mosquito nets to Abaco.

Abaco’s airport was hit and remained difficult to access.

Bluming noted an outpouring of support from Jews around the world.

Chabad has a Bahamas hurricane relief page on its website www.chabad-org

By Natalie Ash