Airlines cancel hundreds of flights as hurricane hits US

Put another way: The winds from a strong Category 4 storm (156 mph) have the potential to create twice as much damage as a weak Category 4 storm (130 mph).

How does Hurricane Matthew stack up against other storms?

Scott said state offices will be closed Thursday and Friday in 26 counties.

Federal emergency response teams were coordinating with officials in all four states and stockpiling supplies.

The hurricane center had predicted the Bahamas would get hit with up to 15 inches of rain and “life-threatening” surf conditions.

If the storm’s wrath isn’t enough on its own, the possibility of up to 11 feet of storm surge could leave hundreds of thousands of homes inundated with water and without power. “I know it’s pretty bad but we have the sand, we bought food, the garage door is storm proof”, said Ruscino. People carried suitcases and pillows, the Miami Herald reported.

Matthew was heading north-west at about 22kmh and was expected to continue on this track on Thursday, turning north-northwest on Thursday night or early on Friday, the hurricane centre said. There are almost 400 miles of coastline from South Florida to Georgia now under Hurricane Warning, and roughly 200 more miles of coastline north of that area under Hurricane Watch. The total USA damage was estimated to be near $15 billion.

Most of the deaths so far have been in Haiti, where heavy damage was reported.

At least 16 deaths in the Caribbean have been blamed on the storm.

The concern about the hurricane is if it makes deviations from the path it’s on. However, Scott said the state is not experiencing any gas supply or distribution shortages. “The hardest-hit areas are still tough to access”, said Jessica Pearl, country director for Mercy Corps.

Over 100,000 of the province’s natives are permanent residents of the state and they’re getting ready for the giant storm, expected to make landfall on Thursday night. “The region is totally cut off”, said Wasmeier, who was an aid worker during the 2010 natural disaster in Haiti that killed tens of thousands. “That’s too exposed”, said Sallie Ann Mills, a 78-year-old retired school teacher, as she sat on the front porch of her daughter’s bungalow in Cocoa, nursing a glass of white wine and facing the intracoastal waterway.

Dominique Fevry-Gilliand, a spokeswoman for Oxfam Canada, said up to 80% of homes in the most affected areas were destroyed.

On Wednesday, officials said the game would still be played in Gainesville.

“This is a risky storm”, Scott warned. In Charleston, which likely will see the powerful storm’s impact this weekend, some people were boarding up businesses. “We should expect the same impact in Florida”. There are 3,500 members now activated, more than half the available troops. Storm surges, downed trees, crop damage, farm damage.

The last major hurricane, measured as a Category 3 or higher, was Wilma in 2005. Florida Gov. Rick Scott says to expect threatening winds as strong as 150 miles per hour. Northbound traffic on Interstate 95 flows northbound through Viera, Fla., as beachside residents evacuate in advance of Hurricane Matthew, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016.

“The message is simple”, he told reporters, according to ABC News.

Florida, Georgia and SC opened shelters for evacuees. Scott said Florida could be looking at its biggest evacuation ever.

Gov. Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency in 30 counties near the coast and ordered evacuations for all counties east of Interstate 95.

On Georgia’s Tybee Island, Loren Kook loaded up his pickup truck with suitcases and a computer and planned to drive to metro Atlanta. He and his wife were trying to decide whether to board up their windows overlooking the marsh grasses of Horsepen Creek before hitting the road to metro Atlanta. “We thought there would be a very good chance we could play on Saturday”, Foley said.