Death toll rises to 13 as storm sweeps up US Southeast coast

Hurricane Matthew is traveling north along the Florida coastline with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour and gusts up to 150 miles per hour – but the most powerful winds primarily stayed offshore, sparing the coast from the worst-case-scenario damage.

Matthew made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in the Cape Romaine National Wildlife Refuge near McClellanville, South Carolina, around 10:45 a.m. on Saturday Around the same time the National Hurricane Center announced that Matthew had been downgraded, the North Carolina Office of Emergency Management confirmed a fifth death in Pitt County overnight due to weather.

In addition to the 11 deaths in North Carolina, there were five in Florida and three each in Georgia and SC.

Hurricane Matthew has made landfall in SC and Gov.

The remnants of the storm, still packing winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kmh) early Sunday, were located in the Atlantic Ocean about 60 miles (95 km) east of North Carolina’s Outer Banks as they move away from the coast and into the sea.

McCrory’s office said four additional deaths were confirmed on Tuesday in North Carolina, raising the death toll in the state to 18.

Matthew slammed into SC on Saturday, after skirting the Atlantic coast of Florida and Georgia, causing widespread power outages and flooding.

With five people reported missing and rivers rising, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory said he expected more deaths.

North Carolina is bracing itself for up to a meter of sustained rainfall.

The AP notes that according to forecasters, rain and storm surge may be more risky than the eye-popping wind speeds at the center of the storm: “They said the major threat to the Southeast would not be the winds – which newer buildings can withstand – but the massive surge of seawater that could wash over coastal communities”.

The hurricane was blamed for at least 10 deaths in the USA, including that of a 68-year-old Georgia man who died when two trees fell on his home.

McCrory said he was also concerned about potential tornadoes, especially in the eastern part of the state.

Of the reported fatalities, two people in Florida were killed by falling trees and an elderly couple died of carbon monoxide poisoning inhaled from a generator while sheltering from the storm inside a garage. At Fort Bragg, soldiers are prepared to deploy on short notice if they are called to assist those who suffer from damage or other problems because of the hurricane.

Millions of Americans were subject to evacuation orders and curfews were slapped on cities as the lethal storm powered north after storming through Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas. “But in Savannah, Chatham County Chairman Al Scott is warning them not to just yet, because he says conditions in many areas are still not safe”.

The fearsome storm then sideswiped hundreds of miles of the USA coastline from Florida through Georgia and the Carolinas, its eye staying far enough offshore that the damage in many places along the coast was relatively modest, consisting mostly of flooded streets, flattened trees and blown-down signs and awnings.

“Stay home. Most of your church services have been cancelled”.

The UN has warned that it could take days for the full impact of Matthew in Haiti to emerge.

“What would you rather have as the alternative?” said Colorado State University meteorology professor Phil Klotzbach.

A woman who identified herself as Valerie walks along flooded President Street after leaving her homeless camp after Hurricane Matthew caused flooding. The state-by-state death toll so far is: North Carolina, 8 deaths; Georgia, 4 deaths; Florida, 6 deaths; and SC, 1 death.

Haiti, so grievously levelled by a 2010 natural disaster, has been worst affected by Hurricane Matthew, which engulfed its Southern coastline in a deadly bear hug, sweeping away flimsy, makeshift homes and indeed more sturdy housing.

Matthew killed more than 500 people in Haiti last week, plowing into the desperately poor country at 145 miles per hour.

Matthew’s flooding was made worst by heavy rains in September. Some 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm lashed coastal villages in high surf.

The Mesa Verde, a US Navy amphibious transport dock ship, was headed for Haiti to support relief efforts.

“I have nothing-my hands are empty”, Kimberly Janvier told the Reuters news agency in the already ragged western town of Cavaillon, which was left in ruins.

Charleston officials said they were not aware of any deaths, injuries or significant structural damage.

“The government is not giving us anything”, Donny St Germain, a pastor at El Shaddai Ministries International, told Al Jazeera.