Before and after images reveal devastating effects of Hurricane Dorian on the Bahamas

When Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm, it wrecked havoc on the idyllic islands. Satellite images taken in 2018 and on Thursday show in great detail Dorian's destructive force on Great Abaco Island, where some of the worst damage occurred.

Hurricane force winds ripped apart buildings and tossed ships ashore. Whole towns and the local airport became submerged, complicating rescue and relief efforts.

PHOTOS: Hurricane Dorian's destruction

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A child's bicycle is seen in a destroyed neighborhood in the wake of Hurricane Dorian in Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco, Bahamas, Sept. 7, 2019.

Loren Elliott/Reuters

"I have never seen destruction like this on this scale on an island before," ABC News correspondent Marcus Moore told "Good Morning America" Tuesday from Marsh Harbour, a town in the Abaco Islands.

A U.S. State Department official said the Abaco Islands' Leonard M. Thompson International Airport is completely underwater.

Helicopters were deployed to airlift people from the Marsh Harbour Clinic to Nassau where relief efforts were being coordinated.

The death toll in the Bahamas reached 30 on Thursday, but Health Minister Dr. Duane Sands told a local radio station that the final death count will be "staggering."