HURRICANE Dorian came to a catastrophic day-long halt over the north-west Bahamas, flooding the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama with walls of water.

At least five people died and 21 injured people were airlifted to the capital by the US Coast Guard, Bahamas officials said.

“We are in the midst of an historic tragedy,” prime minister Hubert Minnis said. “The devastation is unprecedented and extensive.”

Winds and rain continued to pound the north-west islands late on Monday night into early yesterday, sending people fleeing the floodwaters from one shelter to another.

By yesterday morning, the storm’s top sustained winds had dipped to 120mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane, but it remained almost stationary. Hurricane-force winds extended out as far as 45miles in some directions.

MEANWHILE, Hundreds of rescuers are searching a mountainous area outside Madrid 10 days after former alpine ski racer and Olympic medallist Blanca Fernandez Ochoa (pictured) went missing.

Spain’s National Police said Fernandez, 56, was last spotted on surveillance video at a shopping centre on August 24.

Her car was later found in Cercedilla, a mountainous village and resort popular with hikers where her family has roots.

More than 200 police officers, firefighters and forest rangers aided by tracking dogs, helicopters and hundreds of volunteers are searching the steep landscape of gullies and peaks covered by pine forests.

ELSEWHERE, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam (pictured) has said she has never considered tendering her resignation to China over the anti-government protests that have disrupted the city for three months.

The chief executive was asked repeatedly at a news briefing about a Reuters report on Monday citing leaked audio of her telling business leaders recently that she would quit if she had a choice.

“I have never tendered a resignation to the central people’s government. I have not even contemplated to discuss a resignation ... the choice of not resigning was my own choice,” Lam told the news conference, when asked why Beijing refused to let her quit.

“I know it is not going to be an easy path, and that’s why I have said that I have not given myself the choice to take an easier path and that is to leave.”

FINALLY, an Iranian oil tanker being pursued by the US has turned off its tracking beacon, leading to speculation that it will head to Syria.

The disappearance of the Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as the Grace 1, follows a pattern of Iranian oil tankers turning off their Automatic Identification System to mask where they deliver their cargo amid US sanctions.