State of emergency in Georgia, South Carolina.
Hurricane Matthew has taken at least five lives in Florida, and more than a million homes are without power in the state, as widespread flooding is being reported.
Local officials confirmed the death of a 58-year-old St. Lucie County woman who died from a cardiac arrest. The woman made an emergency call at 1:20 a.m.Friday, but this came after operations were suspended because of the hurricane. The identity of the woman has not been released. Two others, a couple, died in St. Lucie County from carbon monoxide poisoning after they ran a generator inside their garage, the county said in a Facebook post, reported Weather.com
The Orlando Sentinel reported on Friday that a Volusia County woman was killed when a tree fell on her while feeding animals. In Putnam County, a woman was killed when a tree fell onto a trailer that was occupied by two adults. A man survived, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office also announced.
The National Hurricane Center – in its Friday afternoon advisory – said Matthew has caused “devastation along the Northeast coast of Florida” as the storm makes its way north.
While Matthew continues to lash the state with powerful winds, rain and storm surge, hundreds of thousands are still without power.
The latest report from the Florida Division of Emergency Management said more than 1.1 million customers are without power statewide.
Bill Orlove, a spokesperson for Florida Power and Light, said in an interview withweather.com on Friday that the company brought in 15,000 crews from all over the country to aid in the storm impacts, with workers coming from as far away as Massachusetts and Texas.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has 90 officers performing search and rescue operations, and another 70 on standby, Gov. Rick Scott’s office said. Also, Florida Highway Patrol has 150 troopers on public safety patrol and another 100 on standby.
Hurricane Matthew hit north along the coast of Florida on Friday morning and the impact is likely to move to Georgia, South Carolina, and southern North Carolina through at leastSaturday night, reported Weather.com. Hurricane warnings have been extended to Surf City and North Carolina. About 3.1 million people were told to evacuate in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center downgraded the storm to category 3 hurricane producing powerful winds of about 120 miles per hour. The hurricane has already claimed hundreds of lives in Haiti. Haiti officials have confirmed that about 480 people have died in the Caribbean country and the number is expected to go up in coming days.
President Barrack Obama raised concerns over the impact of the hurricane and advised people to be alerted. “Pay attention to what your local officials are telling you. If they tell you to evacuate, you need to get out of there and move to higher ground,” Obama said at White House.
“I think the bigger concern at this point is not just hurricane force winds, but storm surge,” Obama said in the Oval Office. “I emphasize this is still a really dangerous hurricane,” he added.
The president has declared a state of emergency in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and the Federal agencies have started relief operations.
About 4500 flights have been canceled so far between Wednesday and Saturday. All flights to and from Orlando have been canceled on Friday and half of the flights for Saturday has already been canceled.
About 600,000 residences and business establishments in Florida have lost power. About half of the households in Volusia, Brevard and Martin counties do not have electricity.
Florida is facing a major hurricane in a decade. About 1.5 million people were ordered to evacuate in the state.
Florida Governor Rick Scott said that more outages are expected as the impact of the hurricane is expected to strengthen. “We’re going to have more outages,” Scott said. “The worst part of this is still to come. … We still have potential for a direct hit and we’re seeing 100-mile-per-hour winds,” he added.
South Carolina Governor Nikki R. Haley pleaded people to leave the coastal area as major winds are expected in the state. “It is getting worse. We are looking at major storm surges, we are looking at major winds,” Haley said at a news conference on Friday.
About 310,000 people have been evacuated from coastal areas in the state.
Officials have warned of destructive storm surge along with up to 15 inches of rain in isolated areas. “This is a big major hurricane that is just offshore and it is fully capable of producing life-threatening storm surge,” said Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center.
In Georgia, about 522,000 people were urged to evacuate. Governor Nathan Deal said voluntary evacuation of residents in low-lying coastal areas is also encouraged. “I urge Georgians in the affected areas to remain calm, be prepared and make informed, responsible decisions as we continue to monitor Hurricane Matthew’s path,” he said.
Governor Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency in South Carolina. He said the residents should be prepared for prolonged power outages.