Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, strengthened as it barreled toward the southeastern United States on Thursday after killing at least 283 people, mostly in Haiti, on its deadly northward march.
As Matthew blew through the northwestern Bahamas on Thursday en route to Florida's Atlantic coast, it became an "extremely dangerous" hurricane carrying winds of 140 miles per hour (220 kph), the US National Hurricane Center said.
That made it a Category 4 hurricane and it was likely to remain so as it approached the United States, where it could either take direct aim at Florida or brush along the state's coast through Friday night, the center said.
President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Florida as Hurricane Matthew strengthened and headed for the US Southeast, the White House said on Thursday.
The action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts necessitated by the storm, a Category 4 hurricane packing winds of 140 mph (220 kph).
Some 136 people were killed in Haiti, local officials said, and thousands were displaced after the storm flattened homes, uprooted trees and inundated neighborhoods earlier in the week.
As the storm passed about 25 miles (40 km) from the Bahamas capital of Nassau, howling gusts of wind brought down palms and other trees and flipped shingles off the rooftops of many houses. Bahamas Power and Light disconnected much of Nassau as Matthew bore down on the town.
No structural damage was immediately visible, a Reuters witness said, and rain was fairly light. No fatalities were reported.
It was too soon to predict where Matthew might do the most of its damage in the United States but the National Hurricane Center's hurricane warning extended up the Atlantic coast from southern Florida through Georgia and into South Carolina. More than 12 million people in the United States were under hurricane watches and warnings, according to the Weather Channel.
Roads Filled With Evacuees
Roads in Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina were jammed and gas stations and food stores ran out of supplies as the storm approached with not just high winds but strong storm surges and drenching rain.
Florida Governor Rick Scott warned there could be "catastrophic" damage if Matthew slammed directly into the state, and urged some 1.5 million people there to heed evacuation orders.
"If you're reluctant to evacuate, just think about all the people who have been killed," Scott said at a news conference on Thursday. "Time is running out. This is clearly either going to have a direct hit or come right along the coast and we're going to have hurricane-force winds."
Scott, who activated several thousand National Guard troops to help deal with the storm, warned that millions of people were likely to be left without power.
Florida, Georgia and South Carolina opened shelters for evacuees. As of Thursday morning, more than 3,000 people were being housed in 60 shelters in Florida, Scott said.
Federal emergency response teams were coordinating with officials in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina and stockpiling supplies. Those declared states of emergency, a move empowering their governors to mobilize the National Guard.
In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest encouraged residents in the path of the storm to heed warnings from local governments about evacuations and seeking shelter.
Schools and airports across the region were closed on Thursday and some hospitals were evacuated, according to local media. Hundreds of flights were canceled in and out of the Florida cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, industry website Flightaware.com said.
At about at about 11 am EDT (1500 GMT), Matthew was 180 miles (290 km) southeast of West Palm Beach, the hurricane center said. It was heading northwest at about 14 mph (22 kph) and was expected to continue on this track on Thursday, the hurricane center said. The eye, or center, of the storm was moving between Andros Island and New Providence in the northwestern Bahamas.
Matthew was forecast to pass close to Freeport, on Grand Bahama, the most industrialized part of Bahamas and home to Buckeye Partners LP's BORCO oil storage terminal, Statoil's south Riding Point Terminal as well as pharmaceutical manufacturing. Grand Bahamas Shipyard, also in Freeport and used by Carnival Corp. for cruise ship repairs, was closed from Monday as the storm approached.
On Tuesday and Wednesday Matthew, the strongest hurricane in the Caribbean since Felix struck Central America in 2007, had whipped Cuba and Haiti with 140 mph (225 kph) winds and torrential rain, pummeling towns and destroying livestock, crops and homes.
The last major hurricane, classified as a storm bearing sustained winds of more than 110 mph (177 kph), to hit the United States was Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
'Might Not Have A House'
In Florida, fuel stations posted "out of gas" signs after cars waited in long lines to fill up. At a Subco gas station in Orlando, the central Florida city that is home to resorts including Walt Disney World, the gas pumps had run dry on Wednesday afternoon.
The shop was a stopping off point for coastal residents seeking shelter inland from the coast. Among them was Jonas Sylvan, 44, of Melbourne, Florida, who planned to hole up in a hotel with his wife, two daughters and dog. "We're just trying to get away from the coast," he said. "It's safer here."
Bumper-to-bumper traffic extended for more than 10 miles (16 km) on the main highway leading west to Orlando from the coast.
In the central Florida coastal city of Jupiter, people scrambled to make preparations.
"Our house is wood construction, so who knows what will happen," said Libby Valentine, 75, of Jupiter. "The whole idea is to stay safe and hope you have the grace to deal with the aftermath because you might not have a house."
Most stores were closed or planning to do so soon. A line of two dozen cars snaked out of a Marathon gas station and tied up traffic on a nearby road. Next door, the windows of a Sabor Latino Supermarket were covered with plywood and a hand-written sign said it closed at noon. Still people banged on the door, hoping to make last-minute purchases.
"What am I going to do now?" said Manuel Fernandez, 67, a construction worker who said he spent the last two days clearing all of the supplies out of the job site where he works. "Publix is closed, Walmart, now here, there's no place left."

eeya.....sorry for dem

May their souls rest in peace. God really love this country. Have not heard of such in Nigeria. God bless my country.

It's well

May their souls rest in peace...no kind name wet dem no go give hurricane...hurricane ike,hurricane Katrina, hurricane Wilma, now we have hurricane Matthew ...we re so blessed in Nigeria that we don't experience all these natural disasters.... but cursed with bad leaders

This hurricane has been in the news 24/7 but still beats me why nairaland is just behind everything

seunlayi:
Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, strengthened as it barreled toward the southeastern United States on Thursday after killing at least 283 people, mostly in Haiti, on its deadly northward march.
As Matthew blew through the northwestern Bahamas on Thursday en route to Florida's Atlantic coast, it became an "extremely dangerous" hurricane carrying winds of 140 miles per hour (220 kph), the US National Hurricane Center said.
That made it a Category 4 hurricane and it was likely to remain so as it approached the United States, where it could either take direct aim at Florida or brush along the state's coast through Friday night, the center said.

Fear P.orn!!!

My suspicions were correct, Matthew was FAKE.

No show hurricane, just like Patricia! There is precedent for this

They need huge hurricanes on the record to continue fronting the climate change scam. So now, we have Patricia, which was a completely fake 5+ hurricane that did not exist at all, (and they just figured they'd get away with it because "Mexicans are stupid" and we have Matthew, which probably was at least a tropical storm or category 1, hyped up to a 5.

From the current observations by people on the ground in Florida, Matthew is not a hurricane. Matthew is at most a tropical storm. Tropical storms can have an eye like a hurricane, but if the winds are not enough, a storm is all they are. THEY LIED ABOUT MATTHEW TO FRONT A CLIMATE CHANGE SCAM, AND GUESS WHAT? IT WILL STAY ON THE RECORD AS A CAT 5.

If you look on the official records, Patricia is there as a cat 5, even after it was proven on the ground it did not exist at all. Patricia hit with less force than a tropical storm, toppled ONE billboard and ONE flimsy roof cars drive under that is always over the gas pumps at gas stations.

Patricia did not even knock the power out. Yet Patricia stayed on the record as a category 5+. And you know what that means? It means we have a government that scams everything so badly it will even lie about the weather, and stick with the lie even after it was proven completely false, out in the open, for all to see. Matthew is just another addition to that lie.

I cautiously stayed with the line on Matthew because I did not completely believe they would have the guts to scam the American people so brazenly. but facts on the ground prove they really did have the guts to try to front this scam and I am surprised by how much they did. I "sort of" went along with the official lie because if I told people it was nothing and it actually happened, well, what would happen if someone stayed home and got killed? I did not want that. But I believed it was completely fake all along and ended up being right.

Ok, so HERE IS THE BIG QUESTION THEN:
If the media and government will lie about the weather, do you think they will be honest with an election?

mojeer678:


Fear P.orn!!!

My suspicions were correct, Matthew was FAKE.

No show hurricane, just like Patricia! There is precedent for this

They need huge hurricanes on the record to continue fronting the climate change scam. So now, we have Patricia, which was a completely fake 5+ hurricane that did not exist at all, (and they just figured they'd get away with it because "Mexicans are stupid" and we have Matthew, which probably was at least a tropical storm or category 1, hyped up to a 5.

From the current observations by people on the ground in Florida, Matthew is not a hurricane. Matthew is at most a tropical storm. Tropical storms can have an eye like a hurricane, but if the winds are not enough, a storm is all they are. THEY LIED ABOUT MATTHEW TO FRONT A CLIMATE CHANGE SCAM, AND GUESS WHAT? IT WILL STAY ON THE RECORD AS A CAT 5.

If you look on the official records, Patricia is there as a cat 5, even after it was proven on the ground it did not exist at all. Patricia hit with less force than a tropical storm, toppled ONE billboard and ONE flimsy roof cars drive under that is always over the gas pumps at gas stations.

Patricia did not even knock the power out. Yet Patricia stayed on the record as a category 5+. And you know what that means? It means we have a government that scams everything so badly it will even lie about the weather, and stick with the lie even after it was proven completely false, out in the open, for all to see. Matthew is just another addition to that lie.

I cautiously stayed with the line on Matthew because I did not completely believe they would have the guts to scam the American people so brazenly. but facts on the ground prove they really did have the guts to try to front this scam and I am surprised by how much they did. I "sort of" went along with the official lie because if I told people it was nothing and it actually happened, well, what would happen if someone stayed home and got killed? I did not want that. But I believed it was completely fake all along and ended up being right.

Ok, so HERE IS THE BIG QUESTION THEN:
If the media and government will lie about the weather, do you think they will be honest with an election?

smh!
The hurricane just killed four people few hours ago and you have the guts to say trash

mojeer678:


Fear P.orn!!!

My suspicions were correct, Matthew was FAKE.

No show hurricane, just like Patricia! There is precedent for this

They need huge hurricanes on the record to continue fronting the climate change scam. So now, we have Patricia, which was a completely fake 5+ hurricane that did not exist at all, (and they just figured they'd get away with it because "Mexicans are stupid" and we have Matthew, which probably was at least a tropical storm or category 1, hyped up to a 5.

From the current observations by people on the ground in Florida, Matthew is not a hurricane. Matthew is at most a tropical storm. Tropical storms can have an eye like a hurricane, but if the winds are not enough, a storm is all they are. THEY LIED ABOUT MATTHEW TO FRONT A CLIMATE CHANGE SCAM, AND GUESS WHAT? IT WILL STAY ON THE RECORD AS A CAT 5.

If you look on the official records, Patricia is there as a cat 5, even after it was proven on the ground it did not exist at all. Patricia hit with less force than a tropical storm, toppled ONE billboard and ONE flimsy roof cars drive under that is always over the gas pumps at gas stations.

Patricia did not even knock the power out. Yet Patricia stayed on the record as a category 5+. And you know what that means? It means we have a government that scams everything so badly it will even lie about the weather, and stick with the lie even after it was proven completely false, out in the open, for all to see. Matthew is just another addition to that lie.

I cautiously stayed with the line on Matthew because I did not completely believe they would have the guts to scam the American people so brazenly. but facts on the ground prove they really did have the guts to try to front this scam and I am surprised by how much they did. I "sort of" went along with the official lie because if I told people it was nothing and it actually happened, well, what would happen if someone stayed home and got killed? I did not want that. But I believed it was completely fake all along and ended up being right.

Ok, so HERE IS THE BIG QUESTION THEN:
If the media and government will lie about the weather, do you think they will be honest with an election?

I won't ask if you are mad.I'd say it straight up;"You are a crazy deplorable human being with no sense of dignity".

Yarduni:


smh!
The hurricane just killed four people few hours ago and you have the guts to say trash

That guy is a mental midget. The best thing is to ignore his idiocy.

ValerianSteel:
I won't ask if you are mad.I'd say it straight up;"You are a crazy deplorable human being with no sense of dignity".

That guy belongs to psychiatric home and I hear there are couple of them in Nigeria that will take him in.

ValerianSteel:
I won't ask if you are mad.I'd say it straight up;"You are a crazy deplorable human being with no sense of dignity".

He, he, he, he, he he he he

The magic word of the season, "deplorable"!

Lucasbalo:
That guy is a mental midget. The best thing is to ignore his idiocy.

DEAR LUCAS and VALERIAN STEEL: TRUMP MAY NOT BE YOUR FAV, BUT HILLARY IS ALSO WHITE, AND CALLED YOU AND THE LATINO COMMUNITY A BUCKET OF LOSERS!

So you now know what a Hillary presidency will think of you! You will not get favored status, or a path upward from this gal!

Yarduni:


smh!
The hurricane just killed four people few hours ago and you have the guts to say trash

And you were right there when it happened?

Insults aren't becoming you, Lucas and Valerian. The way 'they' keep yanking your cords is simply painful to consider. And you indeed fall for the craps, every single time. No wonder they continue unabated.

Pathetic, y'all are

See this:

Hoax reports help confirm Matthew was probably not a hurricane when it reached Florida

A very weak tropical storm is called a tropical depression. They are often the size of hurricanes but lack the power. Above that is a tropical storm. These often have eyes like a hurricane, but are not hurricanes because they lack the punch. And that is probably what Matthew was when it reached Florida.

How do we know Matthew was nothing? When lies like this are told to keep the "hurricane" scam going. Note the publish date: October 7, and the headline which implies the hurricane itself damaged the war ship when in fact this happened days before Matthew arrived:

May their souls rest in perfect peace!

Endeavour to make conscious and wise decisions!!!

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