(MENAFN- Asia Times) Sir Sean Connery says he is "lucky" to have escaped Hurricane Dorian unharmed after it wreaked destruction in the Bahamas, the UK's Daily Mail reported.
The James Bond star was on the island of New Providence when the storm hit, in his full-time residence with his wife Micheline.
Though the storm largely avoided Connery's island, torrential rain and heavy winds were recorded, and some trees were knocked down nearby, the Daily Mail reported.
In the larger storm, it's believed hundreds may have been killed in the category five hurricane, which battered the islands with gusts of up to 225 mph. The death toll is expected to rise dramatically as the clean-up operation continues.
"We are both fine," the 89-year-old actor told the Scottish Daily Mail.
"We were lucky compared to many others and the damage here was not great. We had been prepared for the storm, everything was ready in advance — we weren't taking any chances and knew what to do."
The former 007 actor, who celebrated his 89th birthday on the island on Sunday, has hurricane-experienced staff who would have helped him to make preparations for the storm.
They would have barricaded him and his wife in the home, secured the windows and moved all garden furniture inside, the Daily Mail reported.
Sir Sean moved to the Bahamas in the 1990s, and owns a mansion in Lyford Cay, an exclusive gated community on New Providence, around 90 miles from Great Abaco, which was worst hit by the storm.
A huge rescue operation is under way with Bahamian Health Minister Duane Sands warning the official death toll "could be staggering."
According to CNN, Dorian regained enough strength Saturday to once again become a Category 2 storm, ahead of an expected landfall in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
By the afternoon, the storm was 180 miles southeast of Eastport, Maine, and about 140 miles south-southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the National Hurricane Center said. It was moving northeast at 29 mph, packing maximum winds of 100 mph.
Dorian's landfall in Canada is expected Saturday evening, according to CNN meteorologists.
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