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Hurricane Dorian: Bahamian man watches helplessly as storm surge carries away 5-year-old son

A man who was injured when Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Bahamas said he watched helplessly as his son was carried away from the roof of a home by a storm surge from the Category 5 storm.

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Adrian Farrington Sr., 38, a resident of Abaco Island, struggled to stay afloat with his son, Adrian Jr. after Dorian hit their home in the northwestern Bahamas, CNN reported. As they held each other while waves crashed and debris floated by, Farrington said he noticed some fins nearby.

"My leg was numb, but I was still trying to stay afloat with my son," Farrington told The Nassau Guardian. "After about an hour of treading water and bleeding, I noticed … some fins swimming along the houses.

“So, I grabbed my son and I put him on top (of) the roof. The water was high on the roof.”

Farrington told CBS News he was rescued by civilians and taken to a hospital in Nassau. He told the news network he saw at least 12 people drown, but watching his son get swept away was terrifying.

"Before I could sit on the roof to hold him, the gust from the hurricane dragged him across the roof back into the surge on the next side," Farrington told the Guardian. "I still could remember him reaching for me and calling me, 'Daddy.'"

Richard Johnson, Adrian's older brother, is trying to find his sibling, but he is not optimistic.

"Given the circumstances, I'm not that hopeful," Johnson told CBS News. "Knowing I can rely on the Lord above to rest assure, that's going to be hopeful for me."

Farrington is equally pessimistic.

"If he (is) rescued, I praise the Lord," Farrington told the Guardian. "But for the surge, what I saw when I lose him, anything could happen. You had sharks swimming in the water, anything could happen."