FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Dorian (all times local):

12 p.m.

Officials in northeastern Florida are urging people to stay away from the beaches due to possible storm surge from Hurricane Dorian .

Flagler County Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord said Tuesday that waves of up to 20 feet (6 meters) are expected along the area's Atlantic beaches as the storm moves toward the north.

He says there can still be "life-threatening if not deadly conditions at the beach."

Lord said storm surge is expected along the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway.

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12 p.m.

Two Florida men have been arrested for stealing sandbags meant for Hurricane Dorian preparations.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that Thaylon Lewis and Joseph Colombo Jr. were arrested Monday evening after a deputy spotted one man taking the sandbags from a highway overpass and the other acting as a lookout.

Lewis is charged with theft during a declared state of emergency, a third-degree felony. Colombo was also arrested for an injunction violation for possessing a firearm, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Online court records show no attorneys listed for the men.

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11 a.m.

Hurricane Dorian has weakened to a Category 2 storm as it continues to batter the Bahamas with life-threatening storm surge.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Dorian's maximum sustained winds decreased Tuesday morning to near 110 mph (175 kph). But it's expected to remain a powerful hurricane during the next few days.

Dorian is centered about 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of Freeport in the Bahamas and is moving northwest near 2 mph (4 kph).

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9:35 a.m.

Bahamas Health Minister Duane Sands tells The Associated Press that Hurricane Dorian devastated the health infrastructure in Grand Bahama island and massive flooding has rendered the main hospital unusable.

He said Tuesday that the storm caused less severe damage in the neighboring Abaco islands and he hopes to send an advanced medical team there soon.

Sands said the main hospital in Marsh Harbor is intact and sheltering 400 people but needs food, water, medicine and surgical supplies. He also said crews are trying to airlift between five and seven end-stage kidney failure patients from Abaco who haven't received dialysis since Friday.

Dorian hit Abaco on Sunday with sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph) and gusts up to 220 mph (355 kph), a strength matched only by the Labor Day hurricane of 1935. The storm then hovered over Grand Bahama for a day and a half.

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9:20 a.m.

United Nations officials estimate more than 60,000 people in the northwest Bahamas will need food following the devastation left by Hurricane Dorian .

A spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program said Tuesday that a team is ready to help the Bahamian government assess storm damage and prioritize needs. Herve Verhoosel says preliminary calculations show that 45,700 people in Grand Bahama island may need food, along with another 14,500 in the neighboring Abaco islands.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says some 62,000 people also will need access to clean drinking water. Matthew Cochrane says about 45% of homes in Grand Bahama and Abaco were severely damaged or destroyed and the organization will help 20,000 of the most vulnerable people, including a large Haitian community.

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8:25 a.m.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he ordered evacuations along the length of his state's coast, which includes several low-lying islands, because if there is flooding on causeways, they won't be able to get vehicles on or off the islands.

Kemp told Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday morning that he's expecting Hurricane Dorian to batter Georgia with heavy winds, severe flooding, a storm surge and beach erosion.

He said a reverse traffic or "contraflow" on Interstate 16 begins Tuesday morning.

The Category 3 storm has been battering the Bahamas, causing extensive damage and flooding.

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8:05 a.m.

Hurricane Dorian is beginning to inch northwestward after being stationary over the Bahamas, where its relentless winds have caused catastrophic damage and flooding.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm has started moving about 1 mph (2 kph) Tuesday morning and its speed is expected to increase slightly later in the day.

Dorian's maximum sustained winds remain near 120 mph (195 kph), making it a major Category 3 hurricane.

The storm is centered about 40 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Freeport in the Bahamas.

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2 a.m.

Dorian has weakened to a Category 3 hurricane but continues to batter the Bahamas as it remains almost at a standstill.

At 2:00 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the ferocious storm's center was about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Freeport Grand Bahama Island. It has barely budged from that position since Monday afternoon.

But its wind speeds lessened slightly to 120 mph (193 kph) with higher gusts. That was down from 130 mph (209 kph) Monday evening.

The hurricane is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of West Palm Beach, Florida.

The National Hurricane center said Dorian is expected to move "dangerously close" to the Florida east coast late Tuesday through Wednesday evening and then move north to coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday night and Thursday.

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For AP's complete coverage of the hurricane: https://apnews.com/Hurricanes .