The health minister for the Bahamas said on Wednesday that the death toll from Hurricane Dorian has risen from seven people to 20 — and even more deaths than that are expected as the storm clears the island archipelago and threatens to make landfall further northeast — in the United States — this week.

The Category 5 hurricane slammed into the Bahamas this past Sunday.

It lingered for nearly two days — leaving wreckage, destroying two-story homes, and creating absolute disaster in its wake.

“We are in the midst of one of the greatest national crises in our country’s history,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Dorian now has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm.

But it has been making its way toward the U.S.

It was traveling close to the eastern coast of Florida on Wednesday and is expected to make landfall in the Carolinas on Wednesday night or Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Rescue teams have been fanning out in attempts to reach parts of the Bahamas devastated by Hurricane Dorian, as Fox News and other publications and outlets reported.

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