Hurricane Sandy has been downgraded to a category one hurricane, but has expanded tremendously and is taking its time as it exits the country.

Abaco is still getting hurricane conditions and the northwestern Bahamas, with the exception of Andros and Bimini, is still experiencing tropical storm conditions.

The storm is about 275 miles wide at this point and has slowed down to about 10 miles per hour, forecasters said.

Maximum winds are currently at about 80 miles per hour. Tropical storm conditions should ease up in New Providence by noon, but the storm won't leave the country until later tonight.

Meantime, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is trying to piece together exactly what the damage is in the aftermath of the storm.

According to NEMA's Lt. Sonia Miller there has been some flooding in New Providence, mostly along the coastline. Areas of The Grove out west, Sandyport Plaza and Nirvana Beach are said to be severely flooded, parts even submerged.

Also in New Providence, more than 50 percent of all BEC customers were without power up to 9am.

In Exuma, power poles knocked down during the storm were affecting power supply to the island, and in Williams Town three homes were reportedly damaged as well as the government school, which lost its roof during the storm.

In Crooked Island, some flooding on the roads in Andrew's Point along with power outages were being dealt with.

In Acklins, power and communications are down and authorities there are dealing with flooding and leaks to several homes.

NEMA is still waiting on incoming information in order to attain exact damage reports.

BEC's General Manager Kevin Basden said BEC has commenced full assessment of power supply conditions throughout the Family Islands and in many of them, work has started in an ongoing effort to reestablish power connections as soon as possible.

Power outages in New Providence and other islands have begun to affect thousands of Bahamas Telecommunications Company customers as well.

Reports coming into BTC's hurricane command center indicate that residents in Flamingo Gardens and Gladstone Road in New Providence have lost landline service. In each area approximately 500 customers have been affected.

Earlier outages were reported in Miller's Heights and Faith Ave. The majority of the New Providence outages are concentrated in the southern area of the island.

BTC officials estimate that close to 4,500 customers were without service around the country.

That number may or may not include customers on Abaco, where approximately 20 of the 22 cell phone towers are down.

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