After devastating swathes of the Bahamas for nearly 48 hours - having destroyed thousands of homes and left tens of thousands of people without drinking water - Hurricane Dorian, which has now been degraded to category 2, is approaching the USA.
Per NBC News, more than 2 million residents in Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina have been warned to evacuate.
The destruction Dorian has wrecked on the Bahamas is unequivocal. Ariel footage taken today shows the utterly devastated Marsh Harbour, and a video recorded over the Bahamas' Great Abaco Island depicts miles upon miles of flooded neighbourhoods, decimated buildings and upturned infrastructure.
"We are in the midst of a historic tragedy", the Bahamian Prime Minister, Hubert Minnis, stated. "The devastation is unprecedented and extensive." Minnis confirmed that the storm's death toll stands at seven people, though officials fear that this will only rise.
Now, several influencers and celebrities have come under fire after posting "insensitive" tributes to those affected by the hurricane.
In a post which has since been deleted, Brazilian bikini model, Tatiele Polyana, posted an image of her at the beach with a caption which translated to: "My heart is [broken] a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to see this immensity of clear water, truly a PARADISE, how sad my God to see the desperation of the people in the videos, so many houses, cars, hospitals and places all being devastated by this damn hurricane! Let's pray for #Bahamas ????."
People were quick to deem the post as ingenuous. "Should pick another time to show off your body how about share a picture of some damage? Maybe something relevant? [sic]", wrote one Instagram user, while another corroborated "Also, the vaguely relative caption doesn’t seem genuine. Sounds like you just whipped something together to leech off the traffic kn the geo tag, and hashtag [sic]."
Modern Family star, Sophia Vergara, was also roundly criticised after sharing a picture of her casually hanging out with friends, with the caption "Waiting for Dorian" - written in Spanish.
"I am a fan. But the waiting for Dorian comment was not funny," one person replied, and another added "Oh oh....That caption sounds insensitive....people are not gonna like it."
Per the National Hurricane Centre, as of 5AM EDT Wednesday, Dorian has maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, wth its core being some 90 miles east of Daytona Beach, Florida, where it's moving north-northwest at 8 mph.