Dorian strengthens to a Category 2 storm with 100MPH winds and topples a crane in Halifax as Canada prepares for its first hurricane in nine YEARS after tracking across US East Coast having already battered the Carolinas. Hundreds of thousands of residents in Atlantic Canada were without power as Dorian, which regained strength to a Category 2, prepares to make landfall near Halifax later Saturday evening. The Canadian Hurricane Center says the storm will unleash a heavier barrage of torrential rain, pounding surf and howling winds. Dorian strengthened Saturday to a Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds, up from 85 mph, a strengthening that raised it from a Category 1 to a Category 2 storm. 🌪💦😱

A burned koala has been found cradling her joey as out-of-control fires continue to burn across parts of the country and destroy scores of homes. Police found the mother koala with burns to its back and a singed ear at Canungra,in the Gold Coast hinterland, Australia, on Friday afternoon. The animal was sitting on a fallen tree and shielded its joey which was miraculously uninjured. 'Everything was burnt to the ground around them,' Senior-Sergeant Peter Waugh told The Beaudesert Times. Firefighters are currently battling at least 69 fires across the state with thousands of hectares destroyed and more than a dozen properties razed to the ground. 🔥😱😢

Dozens of actor Sidney Poitier's family in the Bahamas are among the missing in aftermath of Hurricane Dorian that devastated the Caribbean island with THOUSANDS of bodies believed to be buried beneath the rubble. Jeffrey Poitier, 66, said that as of Thursday there was still no news from the relatives, including his sister Barbara and his adult children in Freeport, Bahamas. Hurricane Dorian killed at least 46 people after it struck the Bahamas last Sunday as a Category 5 storm with winds as fast as 185mph. Jeffrey said: 'We still couldn't find anyone, nor have we heard from them. 'We are still looking for and waiting for them to appear soon. It has us all worried. 'We are trying to reach out to them using every means available to us but we are not hearing anything. We are deeply worried.' More than 500 Bahamians belong to the extended family of Sidney Poitier, the acclaimed actor who was born in Miami to Bahamian parents and who grew up in the Bahamas, according to Jeffrey Poitier. 😱

The U.S. Coast Guard says rescuers are looking for four crew members who are unaccounted for after a vessel overturned near a Georgia port. The Golden Ray cargo ship ran into trouble early Sunday when it listed heavily in St. Simon Sound shortly as it was leaving Brunswick. The Coast Guard says there were 23 crew members and one pilot on board. All but four crew members have been safely evacuated from the ship, a 656-foot vehicle carrier.