U.N. peacekeepers from Brazil arrive at the airport after Hurricane Matthew swept through Jeremie, Haiti, on Saturday.

Forecasters said North Carolina and Virginia could get even more rain and warned of the danger of life—threatening flooding through Monday night.

A deteriorating Matthew was stripped of hurricane status Sunday morning and began making its slow exit to the sea after unloading more than a foot of rain on North Carolina that flooded homes and trapped people in their cars as much as 100 miles inland.

What will go down as one of the most potent hurricanes on record in the U.S. was blamed for at least 10 deaths in the U.S. and more than 500 in Haiti.

Dozens of people including a woman and her small child had to be rescued from their cars as life—threatening flash floods surprised many in North Carolina.

As night fell Saturday, authorities warned people to stay off the roads until the storm had passed, and the full extent of the damage was not expected to become clear until daylight.

The unofficial rainfall totals were staggering- 18 inches in Wilmington, 14 inches in Fayetteville and 8 inches in Raleigh. Rivers and creeks overflowing, driving people from their homes.

“This is a very, very serious and deadly storm,” Governor Pat McCrory said.

Before daybreak on Sunday, the hurricane was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. As of 8 a.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 60 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, moving out to sea. It still had hurricane—force winds of 75 mph.

Forecasters said North Carolina and Virginia could get even more rain and warned of the danger of life—threatening flooding through Monday night.

While the crisis was far from over in North Carolina, other places to the South began getting back to normal, with millions relieved that the storm wasn’t the catastrophe that many had been bracing for.

In many places along the Southeast coast, the damage consisted mostly of flooded streets, blown—down signs and awnings, flattened trees and power outages.

As the skies cleared on Saturday, people started cleaning up, reopening their businesses or hitting the beach. The power started coming back on. And all three major theme parks in Orlando, Florida, including Walt Disney World, were up and running.

Along Daytona Beach’s main drag, the Silver Diner had all of its shiny metal siding ripped off the front and sides, leaving only a wood frame exposed. Next door, the window of a souvenir shop had been blown out and the roof and ceiling torn through, leaving pink insulation dangling.

David Beasley, president of Insurance Recovery Inc., surveyed the damage and said that although it looked bad, the main strip was hit harder by Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Frances in 2004.

“This is not much compared to those two,” he said.

On Saturday, Matthew sideswiped two of the South’s oldest and most historic cities Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina and also brought torrential rain and stiff wind to places like Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

After pounding North Carolina and drenching parts of Virginia, it was expected to veer out to sea, lose steam and loop back around toward the Bahamas and Florida, too feeble to cause any trouble.

For nearly its entire run up the coast from Florida, Matthew hung just far enough offshore that communities did not feel the full force of its winds.

Its storm center, or eye, finally blew ashore just north of Charleston on Saturday, but only briefly. And by that time, Matthew was just barely a hurricane, with winds of just 75 mph.

Matthew’s winds were howling at a terrifying 145 mph when the hurricane struck Haiti, where five days later the full extent of the tragedy was not yet known because some devastated areas were still unreachable.

About 100 guests and workers had to be evacuated from a Comfort Inn motel in the North Carolina coastal town of Southport after the hurricane cracked a wall and left the roof in danger of collapse, authorities said. And dramatic video showed Fayetteville police rescuing a woman and her small child from their car as rising waters swallowed it.

An estimated 2 million people in the Southeast were ordered to evacuate their homes as Matthew closed in. By hugging the coast, the storm pretty much behaved as forecasters predicted. A shift of just 20 or 30 miles could have meant widespread devastation.

While Matthew’s wind speed had dropped considerably by the time it hit the Southeast coast, the storm will still go down as one of the most potent hurricanes on record, based on such factors as wind energy and longevity, and as one of the most long—lived major hurricanes, too.

It was a major hurricane that is, with winds of at least 110 mph for just over seven days.

Four deaths were blamed on the storm in Florida, three in Georgia and three in North Carolina. The deaths included an elderly Florida couple who died from carbon monoxide fumes while running a generator in their garage and two women who were killed when trees fell on a home and a camper.

Property data firm CoreLogic projected the storm would cause $4 billion to $6 billion in insured losses on home and commercial properties. That compares with Hurricane Katrina’s $40 billion and Superstorm Sandy’s $20 billion.</s>CHARLESTON, S.C./SAVANNAH, Ga.—Matthew was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Sunday, Oct. 9, as it struck North Carolina and Virginia with a diminished yet still potent punch, causing flooding and widespread power outages along the U.S. Atlantic coast after killing hundreds in Haiti.

The most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007 unleashed torrential rains and powerful winds as it churned slowly north after pummeling the southeastern coast of the United States, killing at least 11 people in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina since Thursday and leaving more than two million businesses and homes without power.

Damage in the United States, however, was much less than in Haiti, where Matthew took nearly 900 lives. At least 13 people on the Caribbean island have also died from outbreaks of cholera since the storm, and around 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said.

Matthew continued to threaten coastal communities in North Carolina and Virginia, where flash flood warnings were in effect and gusts of 75 miles per hour were recorded.

"The wind is bending the trees to a 90 degree angle in my backyard, I've lost electrical power in my home and the rain is blowing sideways," Frank Gianinni, a 59-year-old occupational therapist, said in an email from his home in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Forecasters said widespread flooding was possible from heavy rain - 20 inches was expected to fall in some areas - along with storm surges and high tides.

"We are looking at very significant flooding. Almost every road in the city is impassable," Virginia Beach spokeswoman Erin Sutton told the Weather Channel from the city of almost 500,000 people between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Media showed footage from across the region of motorists and passengers sitting and standing on vehicles stuck in rushing flood waters as crews used swift water boats to rescue the stranded. In Cumberland County, North Carolina alone, more than 500 people were rescued by crews, the Weather Channel reported.

At 4:00 a.m. CST on Sunday, the storm was about 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The center of the storm was set to move south of the North Carolina coast early on Sunday and well east of the state later in the day as it weakens.

Matthew, which days ago briefly topped out as a ferocious Category 5 storm, made U.S. landfall on Saturday near McClellanville, South Carolina, a village 30 miles north of Charleston that was devastated by a Category 4 hurricane in 1989.

The storm was blamed for at least 11 deaths in the United States - five in Florida, three in North Carolina and three in Georgia. More than 2 million households and businesses were without power, most in Florida and South Carolina.

The storm-stricken stretch of the Atlantic Coast from Miami to Charleston, a nearly 600-mile drive, encompasses some of the most well-known beaches, resorts and historical towns in the southeastern United States. Parts of Interstate 95, the main north-south thoroughfare on the East Coast, were closed due to flooding and fallen trees, state officials said.

Roads in Jackson Beach, Florida, were littered with debris, including chunks from an historic pier dislodged by the storm, and beachfront businesses suffered moderate damage.

Streets in downtown Charleston, known for its historic waterfront architecture, were flooded to the tops of tires on some parked cars.

The National Weather Service said record-high tides were recorded along the Savannah River at the South Carolina-Georgia border, peaking at 12.6 feet, surpassing those from Hurricane David in 1979.</s>Now weakened, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007 unleashed torrential rains and powerful winds as it churned slowly north after pummeling the southeastern coast of the United States, killing at least 11 people in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina since Thursday and leaving more than two million businesses and homes without power.

Early on Sunday, the storm threatened coastal communities in North Carolina and Virginia, where flash flood warnings were issued and gusts of winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kph) were recorded.

“The wind is bending the trees to a 90 degree angle in my backyard, I've lost electrical power in my home and the rain is blowing sideways,” Frank Gianinni, a 59-year-old occupational therapist, said in an email from his home in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“Standing outside in my backyard just now, and I’m humbled by the power of nature.”

Forecasters warned that widespread flooding was possible from heavy rain - 15 inches (40 cm) was expected to fall in some areas - along with massive storm surges and high tides.

"We are looking at very significant flooding. Almost every road in the city is impassable," Virginia Beach spokeswoman Erin Sutton told the Weather Channel on Sunday from the city of almost 500,000 people that sits between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

On Saturday evening, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory had urged residents to stay off roads and sidewalks to avoid "deadly conditions" caused by severe flooding and debris.

Local and national media showed footage from throughout the region of motorists and passengers sitting and standing on vehicles stuck in rushing flood waters as crews used swift water boats to rescue the stranded. In Cumberland County, North Carolina alone, more than 500 people had been rescued by crews as of early on Sunday, the Weather Channel reported.

As of 2 a.m. EST (0600 GMT) on Sunday, the storm was about 50 miles (80 km) east of Morehead City, North Carolina, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The center of the storm was set to move near or south of the North Carolina coast early on Sunday and east of the state later in the day as it weakens.

Matthew, which topped out as a ferocious Category 5 storm days before and killed at least 877 people in Haiti, has now been downgraded to Category 1.

It made U.S. landfall on Saturday near McClellanville, South Carolina, a village 30 miles (48 km) north of Charleston that was devastated by a Category 4 hurricane in 1989.

The storm was blamed for at least 11 deaths in the United States - five in Florida, three in North Carolina and three in Georgia, including two people killed by falling trees in Bulloch County, the county coroner said.

Power was reported knocked out for more than 2 million households and businesses in the U.S. Southeast, the bulk of those in Florida and South Carolina.

The storm-stricken stretch of the Atlantic Coast from Miami to Charleston, a nearly 600-mile drive, encompasses some of the most well-known beaches, resorts and historical towns in the southeastern United States. Parts of Interstate 95, the main north-south thoroughfare on the East Coast, were closed due to flooding and fallen trees, state officials said.

Roads in Jackson Beach, Florida, were littered with debris, including chunks from an historic pier dislodged by the storm, with some intersections clogged by up to a foot of standing water. Beachfront businesses suffered moderate damage.

"We rode out the storm. It wasn't this bad at our house, but here there's a lot of damage," said Zowi Cuartas, 18, as he watched bystanders pick up shattered signs near the beach.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said more than 6,000 people stayed in shelters overnight, but he appeared relieved that the state had been spared from greater harm.

"We're all blessed that Matthew stayed off our coast," he said. He predicted electricity would be restored to most without power by Sunday evening.

Streets in downtown Charleston, known for its historic waterfront architecture, were flooded to the tops of tires on some parked cars, and a few residents could be seen wading near the city's sea wall as high tide approached.

Some 8 inches (20 cm) of rain fell in the Savannah, Georgia area, downing trees and causing flooding.

The National Weather Service said record-high tides were recorded along the Savannah River at the South Carolina-Georgia border, peaking at 12.6 feet, surpassing those from Hurricane David in 1979.

Storm damage was far greater in Haiti earlier in the week when Matthew plowed directly into the impoverished Caribbean island nation. Around 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm lashed coastal villages in high surf.</s>Emergency crews in boats rescued hundreds from floodwaters n North Carolina after former hurricane Matthew flooded much of the U.S. Southeast. Matthew, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007, was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Sunday after its rampage through the Caribbean killed nearly 900 people in Haiti and at least 16 people in the United States.</s>Now weakened, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007 unleashed torrential rains and powerful winds as it churned slowly north after pummeling the southeastern coast of the United States, killing at least 11 people in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina since Thursday and leaving more than two million businesses and homes without power.

Early on Sunday, the storm threatened coastal communities in North Carolina and Virginia, where flash flood warnings were issued and gusts of winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kph) were recorded.

“The wind is bending the trees to a 90 degree angle in my backyard, I've lost electrical power in my home and the rain is blowing sideways,” Frank Gianinni, a 59-year-old occupational therapist, said in an email from his home in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“Standing outside in my backyard just now, and I’m humbled by the power of nature.”

Forecasters warned that widespread flooding was possible from heavy rain - 15 inches (40 cm) was expected to fall in some areas - along with massive storm surges and high tides.

"We are looking at very significant flooding. Almost every road in the city is impassable," Virginia Beach spokeswoman Erin Sutton told the Weather Channel on Sunday from the city of almost 500,000 people that sits between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

On Saturday evening, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory had urged residents to stay off roads and sidewalks to avoid "deadly conditions" caused by severe flooding and debris.

Local and national media showed footage from throughout the region of motorists and passengers sitting and standing on vehicles stuck in rushing flood waters as crews used swift water boats to rescue the stranded. In Cumberland County, North Carolina alone, more than 500 people had been rescued by crews as of early on Sunday, the Weather Channel reported.

As of 2 a.m. EST (0600 GMT) on Sunday, the storm was about 50 miles (80 km) east of Morehead City, North Carolina, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The center of the storm was set to move near or south of the North Carolina coast early on Sunday and east of the state later in the day as it weakens.

Matthew, which topped out as a ferocious Category 5 storm days before and killed at least 877 people in Haiti, has now been downgraded to Category 1.

It made U.S. landfall on Saturday near McClellanville, South Carolina, a village 30 miles (48 km) north of Charleston that was devastated by a Category 4 hurricane in 1989.

The storm was blamed for at least 11 deaths in the United States - five in Florida, three in North Carolina and three in Georgia, including two people killed by falling trees in Bulloch County, the county coroner said.

Power was reported knocked out for more than 2 million households and businesses in the U.S. Southeast, the bulk of those in Florida and South Carolina.

The storm-stricken stretch of the Atlantic Coast from Miami to Charleston, a nearly 600-mile drive, encompasses some of the most well-known beaches, resorts and historical towns in the southeastern United States. Parts of Interstate 95, the main north-south thoroughfare on the East Coast, were closed due to flooding and fallen trees, state officials said.

Roads in Jackson Beach, Florida, were littered with debris, including chunks from an historic pier dislodged by the storm, with some intersections clogged by up to a foot of standing water. Beachfront businesses suffered moderate damage.

"We rode out the storm. It wasn't this bad at our house, but here there's a lot of damage," said Zowi Cuartas, 18, as he watched bystanders pick up shattered signs near the beach.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said more than 6,000 people stayed in shelters overnight, but he appeared relieved that the state had been spared from greater harm.

"We're all blessed that Matthew stayed off our coast," he said. He predicted electricity would be restored to most without power by Sunday evening.

Streets in downtown Charleston, known for its historic waterfront architecture, were flooded to the tops of tires on some parked cars, and a few residents could be seen wading near the city's sea wall as high tide approached.

Some 8 inches (20 cm) of rain fell in the Savannah, Georgia area, downing trees and causing flooding.

The National Weather Service said record-high tides were recorded along the Savannah River at the South Carolina-Georgia border, peaking at 12.6 feet, surpassing those from Hurricane David in 1979.

Storm damage was far greater in Haiti earlier in the week when Matthew plowed directly into the impoverished Caribbean island nation. Around 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm lashed coastal villages in high surf.</s>Hurricane Matthew had ripped away the deck where tourists had gathered to eat, drink and watch the sun set. It had smashed through the windows and shoved one of the dining booths into the kitchen.

"It looks like a war zone," Galasso, 63, said of her restaurant, Matanzas Innlet, located about 15 miles south of St. Augustine. "It's a total loss."

Galasso was one of millions of residents of the U.S. southeastern coast returning to homes and businesses hammered by the storm.

Matthew was a Category 5 hurricane, the most powerful classification of storm, at its peak but was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Sunday as it headed away from the North Carolina coast. It killed at least 11 people in the United States and close to 900 in Haiti.

Officials in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina had urged people along parts of a 600-mile stretch of coast to evacuate. Some 2 million people were without power and streets were darkened miles from the coast.

Long lines of cars snaked along the roads leading to Florida's barrier islands, which bore the storm's brunt, after police began to let residents back across.

Barry Fauts, 72, came back to find his property in coastal St. Augustine shattered by the storm.

"It's heartbreaking," he said as he looked at the jagged mess of shattered wood that had once been a 2,000-square-foot ocean-facing deck attached to his two rental units. Fauts, who is retired, bought the property five years ago to rent to vacationers.

"We had people in here when the hurricane came so we refunded their money and they left," Fauts said. "I was looking at coming back with chainsaw and a dump trailer. But this is probably more than I can handle. I guess the next step is call my insurance agent."

CoreLogic, a real estate data firm, estimated the storm may have caused up to $800 billion in damage to property along the U.S. coast.

Farther south police and National Guard troops still had the main road closed, saying the road was impassable.

On St. Augustine Beach, streets were clogged with tree limbs and power lines. Residents trickling back in assessed their homes and began to clear their property.

Elyse Deluca, a 30-year-old nurse, said she had evacuated to Tennessee, unable to find a closer hotel room.

"We really wanted to get back. We were worried about this house, what we would see," she said after seeing her home for the first time in three days. Tree branches littered her property but the home itself was undamaged.

"We had water about halfway across the lawn but none got into the house," she said.</s>Residents of the southeastern United States ravaged by Hurricane Matthew turned their focus on Monday toward recovery and clean-up, while Haiti started to bury some of its dead.

Officials in several US states warned that deadly flooding could continue as rain swollen rivers crest in coming days.

Matthew, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007, was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Sunday after its rampage through the Caribbean killed 1,000 people in Haiti. In the United States, the death toll rose to at least 19 people.

While power was being restored in some areas, 1.6 million people were without power in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Virginia, down Sunday’s peak of 2.2 million. Officials were working to clear streets of downed trees and abandoned vehicles.

With five people reported missing and rivers rising, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory said he expected the death toll to rise. Eight people in the state were known to have died so far.

McCrory said several swelling rivers were expected to hit record levels and would not crest for days.

“Hurricane Matthew is off the map, but it is still with us and it is still deadly,” he said.

The National Weather Service said “life-threatening flooding,” will continue Monday over eastern portions of the state.

Many coastal and inland communities remained under water, either from coastal storm surge or overrun rivers and creeks.

All 2,000 residents of Princeville, the oldest town in the United States incorporated by African Americans, were told on Sunday to evacuate due to flash flood risks. The town lies on the Tar River about 40 km (25 miles) north of Greenville.

Several dams have breached in the area around Cumberland County, south of Raleigh, Michael Martin, fire marshal for the city of Fayetteville, said by phone.

Swiftwater rescue teams are still on alert and there have been 255 water rescue calls and 701 people rescued.

In neighbouring South Carolina, a vehicle trying to cross a flooded roadway in Florence County was swept away by flood waters, killing one person, Governor Nikki Haley said.

Jake Williams, a resident of Florence, said on early Monday that his power had been out since Saturday morning.

“Trees are down in every neighbourhood on almost every road,” he said, adding “I am no weather man, but would guess that the gusts of wind were near 100 mph (160 km), and with soggy ground a lot trees couldn’t stand up to it.”

In Virginia Beach, the city said it had received over 33 cm (13 inches) of rain and 55,000 people remained without power on Sunday night. The city said that some 200 vehicles were abandoned and many roads remained impassable.

Norfolk, which declared a state of emergency, said efforts were under way to clear streets of debris and abandoned vehicles with city offices, libraries and recreational centres set to re-open Monday.

Haiti started burying some of its dead in mass graves in the wake of Hurricane

Matthew, a government official said on Sunday, as cholera spread in the devastated southwest and the death toll from the storm rose to 1,000 people.

Authorities had to start burying the dead in mass graves in Jeremie because the bodies were starting to decompose, said Kedner Frenel, the most senior central government official in the Grand’Anse region on Haiti’s western peninsula.

Frenel said there was great concern about cholera spreading, and that authorities were focused on getting water, food and medication to the thousands of people living in shelters. Cholera causes severe diarrhoea and can kill within hours if untreated. It is spread through contaminated water and has a short incubation period, which leads to rapid outbreaks.

The storm centre was about 320 km (200 miles) off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and heading away from land, according to the National Hurricane Center’s Sunday 9pm Irish time (5pm local time) report.

The storm still packed hurricane force winds as far as 150km (90 miles) from the centre and tropical-storm-force winds 390km (240 miles) away.

US president Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Georgia and Florida, freeing up federal money to help the states repair damaged infrastructure and remove debris.

Mr McCrory said 334 rescue workers risked their lives carrying out 877 rescues overnight.</s>Now weakened, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007 unleashed torrential rains and powerful winds as it churned slowly north after pummeling the southeastern coast of the United States, killing at least 11 people in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina since Thursday and leaving more than two million businesses and homes without power.

Early on Sunday, the storm threatened coastal communities in North Carolina and Virginia, where flash flood warnings were issued and gusts of winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kph) were recorded.

“The wind is bending the trees to a 90 degree angle in my backyard, I've lost electrical power in my home and the rain is blowing sideways,” Frank Gianinni, a 59-year-old occupational therapist, said in an email from his home in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“Standing outside in my backyard just now, and I’m humbled by the power of nature.”

Forecasters warned that widespread flooding was possible from heavy rain - 15 inches (40 cm) was expected to fall in some areas - along with massive storm surges and high tides.

"We are looking at very significant flooding. Almost every road in the city is impassable," Virginia Beach spokeswoman Erin Sutton told the Weather Channel on Sunday from the city of almost 500,000 people that sits between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

On Saturday evening, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory had urged residents to stay off roads and sidewalks to avoid "deadly conditions" caused by severe flooding and debris.

Local and national media showed footage from throughout the region of motorists and passengers sitting and standing on vehicles stuck in rushing flood waters as crews used swift water boats to rescue the stranded. In Cumberland County, North Carolina alone, more than 500 people had been rescued by crews as of early on Sunday, the Weather Channel reported.

As of 2 a.m. EST (0600 GMT) on Sunday, the storm was about 50 miles (80 km) east of Morehead City, North Carolina, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The center of the storm was set to move near or south of the North Carolina coast early on Sunday and east of the state later in the day as it weakens.

Matthew, which topped out as a ferocious Category 5 storm days before and killed at least 877 people in Haiti, has now been downgraded to Category 1.

It made U.S. landfall on Saturday near McClellanville, South Carolina, a village 30 miles (48 km) north of Charleston that was devastated by a Category 4 hurricane in 1989.

The storm was blamed for at least 11 deaths in the United States - five in Florida, three in North Carolina and three in Georgia, including two people killed by falling trees in Bulloch County, the county coroner said.

Power was reported knocked out for more than 2 million households and businesses in the U.S. Southeast, the bulk of those in Florida and South Carolina.

The storm-stricken stretch of the Atlantic Coast from Miami to Charleston, a nearly 600-mile drive, encompasses some of the most well-known beaches, resorts and historical towns in the southeastern United States. Parts of Interstate 95, the main north-south thoroughfare on the East Coast, were closed due to flooding and fallen trees, state officials said.

Roads in Jackson Beach, Florida, were littered with debris, including chunks from an historic pier dislodged by the storm, with some intersections clogged by up to a foot of standing water. Beachfront businesses suffered moderate damage.

"We rode out the storm. It wasn't this bad at our house, but here there's a lot of damage," said Zowi Cuartas, 18, as he watched bystanders pick up shattered signs near the beach.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said more than 6,000 people stayed in shelters overnight, but he appeared relieved that the state had been spared from greater harm.

"We're all blessed that Matthew stayed off our coast," he said. He predicted electricity would be restored to most without power by Sunday evening.

Streets in downtown Charleston, known for its historic waterfront architecture, were flooded to the tops of tires on some parked cars, and a few residents could be seen wading near the city's sea wall as high tide approached.

Some 8 inches (20 cm) of rain fell in the Savannah, Georgia area, downing trees and causing flooding.

The National Weather Service said record-high tides were recorded along the Savannah River at the South Carolina-Georgia border, peaking at 12.6 feet, surpassing those from Hurricane David in 1979.

Storm damage was far greater in Haiti earlier in the week when Matthew plowed directly into the impoverished Caribbean island nation. Around 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm lashed coastal villages in high surf.</s>FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – When Hurricane Matthew dumped torrential rains on North Carolina, thousands of people found themselves suddenly trapped in homes and cars. Rescuers in Coast Guard helicopters plucked some of them from rooftops and used military vehicles to reach others, including a woman who held on to a tree for three hours after her car was overrun by flood waters.

In another dramatic rescue, a woman with her small child perched on the roof of her car had to be helped to safety as the waters rose around them, underscoring how quickly Matthew wreaked havoc 100 miles or more inland after sparing much of the Southeastern coast the catastrophic damage once feared.

The storm killed more than 500 people in Haiti and at least 18 in the U.S. — nearly half of them in North Carolina. Most were swept away by flood waters.

Gov. Pat McCrory said authorities were searching for five people and feared they may find more victims. The problems were far from over as all that rain — more than a foot in places — flows into rivers and downstream, likely causing days of major flooding in many of the same places devastated by a similar deluge from Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

"Hurricane Matthew is off the map. But it is still with us. And it is still deadly," McCrory said.

Princeville, a town of 2,000 that disappeared in the waters of the Tar River during Floyd, was evacuated Sunday as the river was expected to rise to 17 feet above flood stage by late Monday — a level not seen since Floyd. McCrory expected more evacuations as some rivers were predicted to crest next Friday.

David Bullock's sister called him as he bought lottery tickets to tell him police were knocking on doors saying they had to go. He rebuilt his home after the 1999 flood.

"If I get flooded again, I can't take it. I can't go back and take the expense. If I get flooded again I'm going to say, 'it's yours, I'm gone,'" Bullock said.

More than a million people in South Carolina and North Carolina were without power, and at least four separate sections of Interstate 95 — the main artery linking the East Coast from Florida to Maine — were closed in North Carolina.

The ferocity of the rain caught people by surprise. Ezekiel Crowe escaped the floods in Fayetteville on Saturday with his parents and seven brothers and sisters when a police boat plucked them from an apartment as the waters rose.

"I was scared. I was scared. And I thought, I thought the world was going to end. But it didn't," he said.

In Wilson County, rescuers were called when a 63-year-old woman didn't make it home from work. They heard her cries for help while riding on top of a Humvee, and when they couldn't get her with a rope, a National Guard soldier swam to her, staying until a rescue boat arrived, Emergency Management Director Gordon Deno, said.

Even animals had to be saved. WRAL-TV showed a dog swimming around floodwaters Saturday. McCrory said he and his wife were riveted by the coverage and relieved to find out from the Coast Guard that the dog managed to get into a tree and rescue it.

The rainfall totals were staggering: Nearly 15 inches in Fayetteville and 8 inches in Raleigh. McCrory warned that cities along rivers in eastern North Carolina needed to be prepared for days of flooding. The Lumber River in Lumberton was 4 feet above its record level Sunday afternoon and was forecast to remain there for at least five days.

Shortly before daybreak, the hurricane was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. As of 2 p.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 150 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, moving out to sea. It still had hurricane-force winds of 75 mph.

Elsewhere along the Atlantic coast, things were slowly returning to normal. Much of Savannah, which had 17 inches of rain, was still without electricity. About 150 people stood in line for a grocery store to open like it was a Black Friday sale.

Debbie Berta said she waited more than an hour to get propane gas for her grill. She also wanted "bread, potatoes, eggs — and a piece of sanity."

Matthew killed more than 500 people in Haiti last week, plowing into the desperately poor country at 145 mph. The fearsome storm then sideswiped hundreds of miles of the U.S. 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. A shift of just 20 or 30 miles could have meant widespread devastation nearer the ocean.

An estimated 2 million people in the Southeast were ordered to evacuate their homes as Matthew closed in.

In addition to the eight deaths in North Carolina, there were four in Florida and three each in Georgia and South Carolina. Some were killed by falling trees, others by carbon monoxide fumes from a generator. One 66-year-old man near Columbia, South Carolina, died at a nursing facility when he got pinned under his electric wheelchair in water after the heavy rains.

"People were hit. They weren't hit as directly as we had feared, but it has left a lot of devastation in in its wake. Lives have been lost, property has been severely damaged and there's still continuing risk of flooding going on," President Barack Obama said at a fundraiser in Chicago.

Property data firm CoreLogic projected that insured losses on home and commercial properties would amount to $4 billion to $6 billion, well below Hurricane Katrina's $40 billion and Superstorm Sandy's $20 billion.

Waggoner reported from Raleigh, North Carolina; Jonathan Drew in Raleigh; Jeffrey Collins and Jack Jones in Columbia, South Carolina; Russ Bynum in Savannah and Terrance Harris in Daytona Beach, Florida also contributed to this report.</s>CHARLESTON, S.C./SAVANNAH, Ga.—Matthew was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Sunday, Oct. 9, as it struck North Carolina and Virginia with a diminished yet still potent punch, causing flooding and widespread power outages along the U.S. Atlantic coast after killing hundreds in Haiti.

The most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007 unleashed torrential rains and powerful winds as it churned slowly north after pummeling the southeastern coast of the United States, killing at least 11 people in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina since Thursday and leaving more than two million businesses and homes without power.

Damage in the United States, however, was much less than in Haiti, where Matthew took nearly 900 lives. At least 13 people on the Caribbean island have also died from outbreaks of cholera since the storm, and around 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said.

Matthew continued to threaten coastal communities in North Carolina and Virginia, where flash flood warnings were in effect and gusts of 75 miles per hour were recorded.

"The wind is bending the trees to a 90 degree angle in my backyard, I've lost electrical power in my home and the rain is blowing sideways," Frank Gianinni, a 59-year-old occupational therapist, said in an email from his home in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Forecasters said widespread flooding was possible from heavy rain - 20 inches was expected to fall in some areas - along with storm surges and high tides.

"We are looking at very significant flooding. Almost every road in the city is impassable," Virginia Beach spokeswoman Erin Sutton told the Weather Channel from the city of almost 500,000 people between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Media showed footage from across the region of motorists and passengers sitting and standing on vehicles stuck in rushing flood waters as crews used swift water boats to rescue the stranded. In Cumberland County, North Carolina alone, more than 500 people were rescued by crews, the Weather Channel reported.

At 4:00 a.m. CST on Sunday, the storm was about 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The center of the storm was set to move south of the North Carolina coast early on Sunday and well east of the state later in the day as it weakens.

Matthew, which days ago briefly topped out as a ferocious Category 5 storm, made U.S. landfall on Saturday near McClellanville, South Carolina, a village 30 miles north of Charleston that was devastated by a Category 4 hurricane in 1989.

The storm was blamed for at least 11 deaths in the United States - five in Florida, three in North Carolina and three in Georgia. More than 2 million households and businesses were without power, most in Florida and South Carolina.

The storm-stricken stretch of the Atlantic Coast from Miami to Charleston, a nearly 600-mile drive, encompasses some of the most well-known beaches, resorts and historical towns in the southeastern United States. Parts of Interstate 95, the main north-south thoroughfare on the East Coast, were closed due to flooding and fallen trees, state officials said.

Roads in Jackson Beach, Florida, were littered with debris, including chunks from an historic pier dislodged by the storm, and beachfront businesses suffered moderate damage.

Streets in downtown Charleston, known for its historic waterfront architecture, were flooded to the tops of tires on some parked cars.

The National Weather Service said record-high tides were recorded along the Savannah River at the South Carolina-Georgia border, peaking at 12.6 feet, surpassing those from Hurricane David in 1979.
The death toll in the United States from Hurricane Matthew rises to 27 with at least five people still missing in North Carolina. Governor Pat McCrory warns that the state's swollen rivers are still rising with flooding continuing to pose threats to life and property this week. The storm, downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone yesterday, moves away from the U.S. coastline on an east-northeast track.