(CNN) —
Patrick Joachin stood in line at a police station in the Bahamian capital of Nassau, hoping to get a document that would prove he has a clean criminal record and eventually help him flee to the United States.
“I have nothing left here – no house, no job, no family,” said Joachin, who was evacuated from the Dundas Town neighborhood in Abaco on Saturday.
About 17% of all Bahamians are suddenly homeless after Hurricane Dorian wiped out neighborhoods and ripped houses off foundations. That’s 70,000 people who have lost almost everything.
Joachin wants to catch a flight to Tampa, Florida, where his mother and sister are living, and stay there until it’s safe to return to Abaco. If he doesn’t make it to the US, Joachin has no other place to go.
So far, about 5,000 people have been able to escape the country’s hard-hit Abaco Islands. Many others remain stuck in the northern Bahamas in precarious conditions.
Residents are sleeping in houses that are still standing but aren’t necessarily safe.
“So many people here are living in homes that are not suitable to be lived in here in Freeport and in Grand Abaco,” CNN’s Patrick Oppmann said Tuesday from Freeport.
And those are the lucky ones.
In just one town, Marsh Harbour, satellite images show about 1,100 buildings have been destroyed, according to the humanitarian aid agency Map Action.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Fernando Llano/AP
A body is carried out of the Mudd neighborhood in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, on Monday, September 9.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Fernando Llano/AP
Homes are in ruins one week after Dorian hit Marsh Harbour.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Fernando Llano/AP
A photo album is seen amid the debris in Marsh Harbour on Sunday, September 8.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Jose Jimenez/Getty Images
A damaged home in Hope Town, Bahamas.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Andrew Vaughan/AP
A toppled building crane is draped over a new construction project in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on September 9.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Bodies are loaded onto a plane in Marsh Harbour on Saturday, September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Ramon Espinosa/AP
This aerial photo, taken on September 7, shows damage at the South Riding Point oil-storage facility in the Bahamas.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel//TNS/Getty Images
Boxes of food are loaded onto trucks in Freeport, Bahamas, on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
People reach out for beverages as they await evacuation in Marsh Harbour.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Joe Burbank/AP
Evacuees from the Bahamas rest on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship after it arrived in Freeport on September 7. The ship delivered thousands of meals and cases of bottled water.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
People wait to leave Marsh Harbour on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Andrew Vaughan/AP
Waves crash into boats in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as Hurricane Dorian approached on September 7.
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Marc Grandmaison/AP
A man looks a tree that fell in Moncton, New Brunswick, on September 7.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Elijah Nouvelage/The Washington Post/Getty Images
A man surveys damage at the Boardwalk RV Park in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, on Friday, September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Jose Luis Magana/AFP/Getty Images
Bryan Philips walks with his dog on a flooded road in Salvo, North Carolina, on September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Gonzalo Gaudenzi/AP
Evacuees wait to leave Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas.
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Mic Smith/AP
A fallen tree lies on top of a vehicle in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Jose Jimenez/Getty Images
Schemelda Saintilien walks past debris and damaged houses on the Bahamas' Great Abaco island.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Tom Copeland/AP
Police Officer Curtis Resor, left, and Sgt. Michael Stephens check a sailboat for occupants in Beaufort, North Carolina, on September 6.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Gonzalo Gaudenzi/AP
Homes flattened by Hurricane Dorian are seen on the Bahamas' Great Abaco island on Thursday, September 5.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Rescue workers recover a body in Marsh Harbour on September 5.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Gonzalo Gaudenzi/AP
Two men stand amid the destruction in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, on September 5.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Fernando Llano/AP
A woman from the Bahamas speaks on a cell phone after evacuating on September 5.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Johnny Milano/The New York Time
A woman battles rain and wind in Charleston, South Carolina, on September 5.
Photos: Hurricane Dorian
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Ken Ruinard/The Greenville News/USA TODAY Network/Sipa USA
Utility crews work on restoring power in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on September 5.
