As Hurricane Dorian slammed the Bahamas Sunday, several Florida ports closed in preparation.
Port Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville's JAXPORT all closed to incoming and outgoing vessel traffic over the US Labor Day long weekend, along with other, smaller facilities on the state's Atlantic coast.
The closures, put in place by the US Coast Guard, have forced several Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean ships to return Wednesday or Thursday, according to the Miami Herald.
Two Norweigan Cruise Lines ships, the 2,002-berth Norwegian Sun (built 2001) and the 3,962-berth Norwegian Breakaway (built 2013) have been rerouted to New Orleans.
Further up the coastline, in Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, the Coast Guard has declared port condition X-Ray, warning of gale force winds in the next 48 hours.
X-Ray is the second of the Coast Guard's four port conditions ahead of storms. Under conditions Whiskey and X-Ray, winds are expected to pick up in the coming days and ships must inform the captain of the port whether they intend to leave or stay.
Under port condition Yankee, gale force winds are expected within the next 24 hours and outgoing vessels must depart immediately, while incoming ships must find another destination. Ports are closed under condition Zulu.
After making landfall Sunday, Dorian hovered over the Bahamas' northern islands for days, reportedly killing five and destroying thousands of homes with its huge storm surges and 100-plus mile per hour winds.
The US National Weather Service says the storm, while moving, will continue to affect Grand Bahama Island for the next several hours.
Meanwhile, "life-threatening storm surge[s]" and "dangerous winds" are expected to hit Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, even if Dorian tracks north and never makes landfall in the US.
