A soldier controls the crowd as people wait in line to get in an airplane during an evacuation operation after Hurricane Dorian hit  Abaco Islands in Treasure Cay, Bahamas, September 7, 2019. (Photo: REUTERS/Marco Bello)

Aid groups rushed emergency help to the storm-ravaged islands, and officials warned a death toll of 43 was likely to spike higher as the number of missing among the archipelago nation’s 400,000 residents becomes clear. Even as the aid ships and aircraft headed in, residents abandoned hard-hit Great Abaco Island to seek safety and food in the capital, Nassau, and others headed to Florida for shelter, supplies and perhaps jobs.