Hurricane Dorian

Hurricane Dorian howled over North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Friday — a much weaker but still dangerous version of the storm that wreaked havoc in the…

The Bahamas health minister announced the higher death toll late Wednesday, as Dorian continued shadowing the U.S. East Coast.

Hurricane Dorian hit Sunday as a Category 5 hurricane and then essentially parked itself over the island.

Dorian is roughly 105 miles off the shore of Fort Pierce, Fla. It has maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour. Officials in the Bahamas say there are at least seven storm-related deaths.

The prime minister said five people were killed on Abaco Island. The Category 3 storm sustains 125 mph winds with "life-threatening" storm surge levels expected on Florida's east coast by late Monday.

With sustained winds of 185 mph, Dorian is hitting the Bahamas as "the strongest hurricane in modern records" to hit the archipelago, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Forecasters warned that the storm will bring a "life-threatening storm surge" and "devastating winds" when it reaches the archipelago, before continuing toward the southeastern U.S.

Forecasters warn, "Dorian is anticipated to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane ... into next week. Florida and Georgia have declared emergencies along the wide possible path of the storm.

In the next few days, Dorian's winds could top 115 mph — making it a Category 3 storm — the National Hurricane Center says.