ELEUTHERA, Bahamas: Hurricane Joaquin ripped off roofs, uprooted trees and unleashed heavy flooding as it hurled torrents of rain across the eastern and central Bahamas on Friday, and the US Coast Guard said it was searching for a cargo ship with 33 people aboard that went missing during the Category 4 storm.

The Coast Guard said the 735-foot (224-meter) ship named El Faro had taken on water and was listing at 15 degrees near Crooked Island, one of the islands most battered by the hurricane.

Officials said they hadn’t been able to re-establish communication with the vessel, which was traveling from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Coast Guard said the crew earlier reported it had been able to contain the flooding. No further details were available.

The US National Hurricane Center said Joaquin’s threat to the US East Coast was fading as new forecasts showed it likely to curve out into the Atlantic while moving north and weakening in coming days.