(CNN)Hurricane Matthew was leaving behind record-breaking flooding Saturday as the …
Flooding worse than any time in recorded history in some places Hurricane Matthew has hit
Hurricane Matthew creates 'record-breaking' flooding
Story highlights
- Three deaths are reported in North Carolina and one in Georgia
- Matthew is expected to weaken in the next 48 hours
Are you affected by Hurricane Matthew? If it is safe for you to do so, WhatsApp us on *+44 7435 939 154* to share your photos, experiences and video. Please tag #CNNiReport in your message.
(CNN)Hurricane
Matthew was leaving behind record-breaking flooding Saturday as the
center of the storm moved out into the Atlantic Ocean, dragging bands of
heavy rain with it across eastern North Carolina.
The Category 1 hurricane was dropping 8 to 20 inches of rain in the Tar Heel State and southeast Virginia.
"This
rainfall is leading to record-breaking flooding over portions of
eastern North Carolina, and it may result in life-threatening flooding
and flash flooding elsewhere across the region," the National Hurricane
Center said.
Matthew reportedly was responsible for three deaths in North Carolina in addition to four in Florida and one in Georgia.
The
hurricane left swaths of damage and millions of power outages along
parts of the US Southeast from Florida to the Carolinas after a
destructive trip through the Caribbean that took the lives of hundreds
of people.
Though
the storm has weakened, serious threats remain before Matthew becomes a
post-tropical cyclone Saturday night or Sunday, the hurricane center
said.
Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A supermarket shelf is nearly cleared out in Titusville, Florida, on Wednesday, October 5.
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Bumper-to-bumper traffic lines Interstate 26 in Columbia, South Carolina, as people drive west on October 5.
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Workers
start removing umbrellas and the colorful rocking chairs that line the
Cocoa Beach Pier in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on October 5.
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People carry a coffin and try to cross the La Digue river on October 5 after a bridge collapsed in Petit-Goave, Haiti.
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People cross the La Digue river on October 5.
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Evacuees return to their homes in the Carbonera community of Guantanamo, Cuba, on October 5.
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People
embrace at their damaged home in Baracoa, Cuba. The hurricane rolled
across the sparsely populated tip of Cuba, destroying dozens of homes in
the country's easternmost city and leaving hundreds of others damaged.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A woman cries amid the rubble of her home in Baracoa.
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Anthony Schirado, left, and Tom Kennedy put up plywood to cover the windows of a storefront in Cocoa Beach on October 5.
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Bus drivers in North Charleston, South Carolina, wait for word to start evacuations.
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The high winds of Hurricane Matthew roar over Baracoa on Tuesday, October 4.
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Beth Johnson fills up her car at a gas station in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, on October 4.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
The
mother of two girls who died in the storm is comforted near her home in
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on October 4. The girls were killed
when a landslide caused by flooding breached the walls of their house.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A worker clears a sewer on a flooded street in Santo Domingo.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Anita
Baranyi feeds her baby while keeping an eye on the generator she
intends to purchase from a home-improvement store in Oakland Park,
Florida, on October 4.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People
wade through the flooded streets of Cite Soleil in the Haitian capital
of Port-au-Prince on October 4. Hurricane Matthew is the strongest storm
to hit Haiti since 1964 and the first hurricane to make landfall in the
country since the devastating earthquake in 2010.
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People observe the flooding of a river near Port-au-Prince on October 4.
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Children swim in a flooded neighborhood of Santo Domingo on October 4.
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A truck used as public transportation drives through flooded streets in Port-au-Prince on October 4.
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Hurricane winds blow against palm trees in Port-au-Prince.
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A food vendor lays out goods for sale during a light rain in Port-au-Prince on October 4.
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Haitian civil protection workers arrive to evacuate the Tabarre region of Haiti on October 3.
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Officials urge residents to evacuate their homes in the Grise River area of Tabarre on October 3.
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Clouds loom over the hills of the Petionville suburb of Port-au-Prince on October 3.
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Families seek shelter from Hurricane Matthew at a university facility in Guantanamo, Cuba.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People near Kingston, Jamaica, take a photo in front of the rough surf produced by Hurricane Matthew on October 3.
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A backhoe removes garbage to clear a canal in Port-au-Prince on October 3.
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Nice Simon, the mayor of Tabarre, Haiti, holds a baby as she helps evacuate the area along a river.
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People stock up on food at a supermarket in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, October 2.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A worker dismantles a traffic light in Santiago before Hurricane Matthew struck Cuba.
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Motorists drive through heavy rains in Kingston, Jamaica, on October 2.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Residents of Cuba's Holguin Province line up to buy gas on October 2.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A worker nails a board to a storefront window in Kingston on Saturday, October 1.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Parts
of Highway A1A in Flagler Beach, Florida, were washed away by Hurricane
Matthew on Friday, October 7. The storm left more than 1 million people
without power as it moves up the Southeast coast.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Water flows over a seawall and fills the streets in St. Augustine, Florida.
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Barbara Hearst tapes her storm shutters as Hurricane Matthew nears Charleston, South Carolina, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Adam
and Alec Selent watch waves crash over a retainer wall at the Ocean
Club condominiums in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A damaged boat sits partially submerged on the intercoastal waterway in Melbourne, Florida on October 7.
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A police officer helps persuade a woman to board a bus and evacuate Savannah, Georgia, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Preston
Payne tires to hold his umbrella as Hurricane Matthew makes its way up
the East Coast, Friday, October 7 on Tybee Island, Georgia. Authorities
warned that the danger was far from over, with hundreds of miles of
coastline in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina still under threat of
torrential rain and dangerous storm surges.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Heavy waves pound boat docks in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on October 7.
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A women helps a dog walk through floodwaters in Port Orange, Florida, on October 7.
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Damage in Cocoa Beach.
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Waves crash against a bridge in St. Augustine, Florida.
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A car drives past a downed tree as the hurricane moves through Daytona Beach, Florida, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A billboard canvas flaps in the wind after Hurricane Matthew passed North Palm Beach, Florida, on October 7.
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A motel in southeast Florida is damaged on October 7.
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A woman inspects her damaged car under a tree in Fort Pierce, Florida, on October 7.
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A space shuttle model stands near some downed trees after Hurricane Matthew passed by Cocoa Beach.
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A home in Sebastian, Florida, is boarded up on October 7.
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A woman uses her phone under a battery-operated lantern at a hotel in Titusville, Florida, on October 7.
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Palm trees on Cocoa Beach sway in the wind on October 7.
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Firefighters
respond to a pre-dawn house fire in Satellite Beach, Florida, that was
possibly caused by a downed power line on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Heavy rain billows in front of Exploration Tower in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People stand on a beach in Broward County, Florida, as the storm approached the coast on Thursday, October 6.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A police officer walks along the beach in Singer Island, Florida, on October 6.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
The first outer bands of rain from Hurricane Matthew pass over downtown Orlando on October 6.
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A lifeguard patrols the beach in Jacksonville, Florida, ahead of the storm on October 6.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Kevin Forde and John Haughey put plywood on a Miami Beach window on October 6.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Hurricane
Matthew moves through Paradise Island in Nassau, Bahamas, on October 6.
Capt. Stephen Russell, the head of the Bahamas National Emergency
Management Authority, said there were many downed trees and power lines
but no reports of casualties.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People
leave Disney's Magic Kingdom theme park, in heavy rain, after it closed
in Orlando, Florida in preparation for the landfall of Hurricane
Matthew, on October 6.
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A man rakes up debris from a storm drain as he begins cleanup near a damaged gas station in Nassau on October 6.
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Residents repair their homes in Les Cayes, Haiti, on October 6. The damage from Hurricane Matthew was especially brutal in southern Haiti, where sustained winds of 130 mph punished the country.
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Girls hold hands as they help each other wade through a flooded street in Les Cayes on October 6.
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Two
days after the storm, authorities and aid workers in Haiti still lacked
a clear picture of what they fear is the country's biggest disaster in
years.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A supermarket shelf is nearly cleared out in Titusville, Florida, on Wednesday, October 5.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Bumper-to-bumper traffic lines Interstate 26 in Columbia, South Carolina, as people drive west on October 5.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Workers
start removing umbrellas and the colorful rocking chairs that line the
Cocoa Beach Pier in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on October 5.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People carry a coffin and try to cross the La Digue river on October 5 after a bridge collapsed in Petit-Goave, Haiti.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People cross the La Digue river on October 5.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Evacuees return to their homes in the Carbonera community of Guantanamo, Cuba, on October 5.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People
embrace at their damaged home in Baracoa, Cuba. The hurricane rolled
across the sparsely populated tip of Cuba, destroying dozens of homes in
the country's easternmost city and leaving hundreds of others damaged.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A woman cries amid the rubble of her home in Baracoa.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Anthony Schirado, left, and Tom Kennedy put up plywood to cover the windows of a storefront in Cocoa Beach on October 5.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Bus drivers in North Charleston, South Carolina, wait for word to start evacuations.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
The high winds of Hurricane Matthew roar over Baracoa on Tuesday, October 4.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Beth Johnson fills up her car at a gas station in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, on October 4.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
The
mother of two girls who died in the storm is comforted near her home in
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on October 4. The girls were killed
when a landslide caused by flooding breached the walls of their house.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A worker clears a sewer on a flooded street in Santo Domingo.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Anita
Baranyi feeds her baby while keeping an eye on the generator she
intends to purchase from a home-improvement store in Oakland Park,
Florida, on October 4.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People
wade through the flooded streets of Cite Soleil in the Haitian capital
of Port-au-Prince on October 4. Hurricane Matthew is the strongest storm
to hit Haiti since 1964 and the first hurricane to make landfall in the
country since the devastating earthquake in 2010.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People observe the flooding of a river near Port-au-Prince on October 4.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Children swim in a flooded neighborhood of Santo Domingo on October 4.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A truck used as public transportation drives through flooded streets in Port-au-Prince on October 4.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Hurricane winds blow against palm trees in Port-au-Prince.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A food vendor lays out goods for sale during a light rain in Port-au-Prince on October 4.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Haitian civil protection workers arrive to evacuate the Tabarre region of Haiti on October 3.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Officials urge residents to evacuate their homes in the Grise River area of Tabarre on October 3.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Clouds loom over the hills of the Petionville suburb of Port-au-Prince on October 3.
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Families seek shelter from Hurricane Matthew at a university facility in Guantanamo, Cuba.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People near Kingston, Jamaica, take a photo in front of the rough surf produced by Hurricane Matthew on October 3.
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A backhoe removes garbage to clear a canal in Port-au-Prince on October 3.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Nice Simon, the mayor of Tabarre, Haiti, holds a baby as she helps evacuate the area along a river.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People stock up on food at a supermarket in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, October 2.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A worker dismantles a traffic light in Santiago before Hurricane Matthew struck Cuba.
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Motorists drive through heavy rains in Kingston, Jamaica, on October 2.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Residents of Cuba's Holguin Province line up to buy gas on October 2.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A worker nails a board to a storefront window in Kingston on Saturday, October 1.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Parts
of Highway A1A in Flagler Beach, Florida, were washed away by Hurricane
Matthew on Friday, October 7. The storm left more than 1 million people
without power as it moves up the Southeast coast.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Water flows over a seawall and fills the streets in St. Augustine, Florida.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Barbara Hearst tapes her storm shutters as Hurricane Matthew nears Charleston, South Carolina, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Adam
and Alec Selent watch waves crash over a retainer wall at the Ocean
Club condominiums in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A damaged boat sits partially submerged on the intercoastal waterway in Melbourne, Florida on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A police officer helps persuade a woman to board a bus and evacuate Savannah, Georgia, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Preston
Payne tires to hold his umbrella as Hurricane Matthew makes its way up
the East Coast, Friday, October 7 on Tybee Island, Georgia. Authorities
warned that the danger was far from over, with hundreds of miles of
coastline in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina still under threat of
torrential rain and dangerous storm surges.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Heavy waves pound boat docks in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
A women helps a dog walk through floodwaters in Port Orange, Florida, on October 7.
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Damage in Cocoa Beach.
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Waves crash against a bridge in St. Augustine, Florida.
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A car drives past a downed tree as the hurricane moves through Daytona Beach, Florida, on October 7.
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A billboard canvas flaps in the wind after Hurricane Matthew passed North Palm Beach, Florida, on October 7.
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A motel in southeast Florida is damaged on October 7.
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A woman inspects her damaged car under a tree in Fort Pierce, Florida, on October 7.
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A space shuttle model stands near some downed trees after Hurricane Matthew passed by Cocoa Beach.
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A home in Sebastian, Florida, is boarded up on October 7.
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A woman uses her phone under a battery-operated lantern at a hotel in Titusville, Florida, on October 7.
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Palm trees on Cocoa Beach sway in the wind on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Firefighters
respond to a pre-dawn house fire in Satellite Beach, Florida, that was
possibly caused by a downed power line on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Heavy rain billows in front of Exploration Tower in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on October 7.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People stand on a beach in Broward County, Florida, as the storm approached the coast on Thursday, October 6.
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A police officer walks along the beach in Singer Island, Florida, on October 6.
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The first outer bands of rain from Hurricane Matthew pass over downtown Orlando on October 6.
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A lifeguard patrols the beach in Jacksonville, Florida, ahead of the storm on October 6.
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Kevin Forde and John Haughey put plywood on a Miami Beach window on October 6.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Hurricane
Matthew moves through Paradise Island in Nassau, Bahamas, on October 6.
Capt. Stephen Russell, the head of the Bahamas National Emergency
Management Authority, said there were many downed trees and power lines
but no reports of casualties.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
People
leave Disney's Magic Kingdom theme park, in heavy rain, after it closed
in Orlando, Florida in preparation for the landfall of Hurricane
Matthew, on October 6.
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A man rakes up debris from a storm drain as he begins cleanup near a damaged gas station in Nassau on October 6.
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Residents repair their homes in Les Cayes, Haiti, on October 6. The damage from Hurricane Matthew was especially brutal in southern Haiti, where sustained winds of 130 mph punished the country.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Girls hold hands as they help each other wade through a flooded street in Les Cayes on October 6.
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Photos: Hurricane Matthew hits US coast
Two
days after the storm, authorities and aid workers in Haiti still lacked
a clear picture of what they fear is the country's biggest disaster in
years.
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A supermarket shelf is nearly cleared out in Titusville, Florida, on Wednesday, October 5.
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"Surge-related
flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal
cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances," the hurricane center
said in its 8 p.m. advisory. "Large waves generated by Matthew will
cause water rises to occur well in advance of and well away from the
track of the center."
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory told residents the flooding could be the worst since Hurricane Floyd pounded the state in 1999.
Even
though Matthew made its first US landfall Saturday morning in South
Carolina, part of the storm's eyewall -- the hurricane's strongest
section -- passed over parts of coastal Florida, Georgia and South
Carolina from Friday into Saturday, helping to flood low-lying areas,
down trees and make some roads impassable.
By the numbers
• The storm has killed hundreds in the Caribbean, almost entirely in Haiti.
More than 330 people died in Haiti, according to a spokesman for
Haiti's Civil Protection Service. Others report much higher deaths. A
count by Reuters, based on information from local civil protection
officials, puts the death toll in Haiti well over 800. Four deaths were
reported in the Dominican Republic and one in St. Vincent and the
Grenadines.
• Two people died in a
submerged vehicle in Bladen County, North Carolina, and a third person
died in Samson County when car crashed after hydroplaning. A man in
Savannah, Georgia was found dead in his house Saturday after a tree fell
on it, police said.
That brought the US death toll to at least eight people, including four deaths Friday in Florida.
• As of 8 p.m. ET, Matthew's
center was 40 miles east of Cape Fear, North Carolina. The storm was
moving east-northeast at 13 mph as a Category 1 hurricane and was
expected to become a post-tropical storm in the next 36 hours.
•
More than 2 million utility customers were reported without power
Saturday night in South Carolina (833,000), Florida (673,000), North
Carolina (457,000) and Georgia (276,000).
Flooding in Georgia, South Carolina
In
the coastal Georgia city of Savannah, 85-year-old Sue Alice Walker said
she was sleeping in her house when she awoke early Friday evening to
find water -- eventually about 3 inches -- flowing inside.
Sue Alice Walker, 85, of Savannah, Georgia
"First
I saw it in the living room, then in the kitchen, and then last it came
in my son's room," she told CNN's Sara Ganim, adding that she spent the
rest of the night and much of Saturday morning mopping and shoveling
the water into buckets.
Storm
surges sent water spilling into Myrtle Beach's streets early Saturday
afternoon, before the storm's center arrived, video posted to social
media by reporters with CNN affiliate WPDE showed.
Matthew left more than 100
roads impassable in the Charleston area Saturday morning, and damage
assessments had yet to be completed in a large portion of the state,
officials said.
South Carolina Gov.
Nikki Haley, who'd warned coastal residents to evacuate ahead of the
storm, asked them to stay away a while longer Saturday morning.
"I'm going to ask for patience. ... Do not plan to go home," Haley said, asserting that driving conditions still weren't safe.
Florida left drenched
Matthew battered the coast of east-central and northeastern Florida on Saturday, leaving swaths of damage.
What's left in Florida after Hurricane Matthew 01:16
Water
from the storm rushed through streets, making roadways look more like
rivers, in parts of Jacksonville, Merritt Island, Fleming Island and
other Florida communities.
Florida
struggled with the rising water, rain and strong winds as
meteorologists said the storm surge had been measured at more than 4
feet in some areas.
Nick Lomasney walks on a flooded street in St Augustine, Florida.
Jacksonville
was not battered as heavily as initially feared. But several
communities nearby received extensive damage with water surging down
some streets, and massive trees toppled over.
Part of the Jacksonville Beach Pier washed away Friday morning, according to CNN affiliate WFOX/WJAX. The original pier was washed away during Hurricane Floyd and rebuilt a few years later, the station said.
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