Hurricane Joaquin batters Bahamas, fate of cargo ship unknown

2015 10 02 – Excerpt from Reuters:

The fate of more than 30 crew aboard a cargo ship missing off the Bahamas in heavy seas whipped up by Hurricane Joaquin was unknown on Friday as the powerful storm battered the island chain for a second day.

News the vessel had lost contact with shore came as forecasters shifted the likely track of the potentially catastrophic storm further away from the U.S. East Coast, but there were still warnings about the possibility of severe flooding in the Carolinas from unrelated heavy rains.

In an advisory at 5 p.m. EDT on Friday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Joaquin had weakened slightly to a Category 3 hurricane on a scale of 1 to 5, down from its previous Category 4 ranking  Continue reading on Reuters , or also on the US Coast Guard Newsroom