A photograph released by the UK Ministry of Defence shows the debris and destruction left in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian on the island Great Abaco in the northern Bahamas on Tuesday. Bahamian, US and British teams ramped up rescue efforts Wednesday to find survivors of the hurricane that pounded the Atlantic archipelago. And death toll of the hurricane strike has risen to 20 as of Thursday. Photo: AP

The death toll from Hurricane Dorian has risen to 30 in the Bahamas, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said.

He said that the storm caused "generational devastation." The UN said 70,000 people in the Bahamas were in "immediate need" of aid.

Dorian was pounding the US states of North and South Carolina on Thursday night with strong winds and driving rain, bringing dangerous storm surge.