Electronic devices covered in mud stand outside an office destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in Les Cayes, Haiti, Thursday. Two days after the storm rampaged across the country's remote southwestern peninsula, authorities and aid workers still lack a clear picture of what they fear is the country's biggest disaster in years. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)</s>LES CAYES, Haiti — Haiti's death toll climbed Thursday as rescue crews began reaching remote corners cut off when Hurricane Matthew slammed into the country's southwest peninsula, the first Category 4 storm to hit Haiti in more than a half century.

Bodies started to appear as waters receded in some areas two days after 145 mph (235 kph) winds smashed concrete walls, flattened palm trees and tore roofs off homes, forcing thousands of Haitians to flee. At least 122 people died in Haiti, the headquarters of the Civil Protection Agency said Thursday night, and authorities expected the number to rise. Mayors and other local officials in marooned areas were reporting higher numbers. Overall, 128 confirmed deaths have been attributed to Matthew in the Caribbean.

Those killed in Haiti included a woman and her 6-year-old daughter who frantically abandoned their flimsy home and headed to a nearby church to seek shelter as Matthew surged in early Tuesday, said Ernst Ais, mayor of the town of Cavaillon.

"On the way to the church, the wind took them," Ais told The Associated Press.

Officials were especially concerned about the department of Grand-Anse on the northern tip of the peninsula, where 38 of the known deaths were reported, the highest toll for any area.

"Devastation is everywhere," said Pilus Enor, mayor of the town of Camp Perrin. "Every house has lost its roof. All the plantations have been destroyed. ...This is the first time we see something like this."

In the nearby seaport of Les Cayes, many people searched for clean water as they lugged mattresses and other belongings they were able to salvage.

"Nothing is going well," said Jardine Laguerre, a teacher. "The water took what little money we had. We are hungry."

Authorities and aid workers were just beginning to get a clear picture of what they fear is the country's biggest disaster in years.

Officials with the Pan American Health Organization warned Thursday about a possible surge in cholera cases because of the widespread flooding caused by Matthew. Haiti's cholera outbreak has killed roughly 10,000 people and sickened more than 800,000 since 2010, when it was introduced into the country's biggest river from a U.N. base where Nepalese peacekeepers were deployed.

Before hitting Haiti, the storm was blamed for four deaths in the Dominican Republic, one in Colombia and one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

In the coming days, U.S. military personnel equipped with nine helicopters were expected to help deliver food and water to hard-hit areas.

While recovery efforts continued in Haiti, Matthew pummeled the Bahamas on Thursday. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the capital of Nassau, but the storm ripped off roofs, uprooted trees and caused flooding that trapped some people in their homes. Authorities urged people to stay indoors while they conducted search and rescue operations.

"This is the most intense hurricane I have ever been through," a Nassau resident, 43-year-old Jose Ageeb, said in a message to the AP. "And I have been through many."</s>(CNN) Jean-Atan Cadet and twin brother Jonas were welcomed into the world as the hemisphere's poorest nation embarks on another painful recovery.

Hours after Hurricane Matthew cut a destructive path across Haiti, their mother Julienne found herself in distress and bleeding during labor.

Cadet, 35, had been trudging alone on a dirt road near the rural southwestern community of Fond-des-Blancs. Workers from St. Boniface Hospital spotted her, the hospital's resident coordinator, Kat White, said in a phone interview Friday night.

A motorcycle the expectant mother had hired for the journey was unable to cross a river.

"I was in so much pain," Cadet told White. "I was afraid I would lose the babies or pass away."

An ambulance rushed Cadet to St. Boniface. On Wednesday afternoon, she had one of four emergency cesarean sections performed at the hospital during the hurricane, according to White.

At least 300 people have died since Matthew made landfall in Haiti on Tuesday as a Category 4 hurricane, according to Paul Altidor, Haitian ambassador to the United States.

The death toll is expected to rise as remote areas isolated by washed-out bridges become accessible, the ambassador said.

UN officials said the hurricane is the country's worst humanitarian crisis since the devastating 2010 earthquake, which killed about 200,000 people.

The country was only starting to rebuild when Matthew struck southwestern peninsula with 125 mph (200 kph) winds and heavy rains that destroyed homes, flooded villages, razed crops, swept away cattle and cut off the parts of the island.

"One of our physicians on a helicopter over the hardest hit areas said there are villages that just don't exist anymore," Ralph McDaniel, executive director of Ayiti Air Anbilans, the country's only helicopter ambulance service, said from Port au Prince.

"Another person on the helicopter said they didn't see anybody on the streets. They didn't see any cars. They didn't see anything. Was that because the people had all evacuated or because they are casualties? We don't know."

"We are very concerned this is a forgotten disaster," he said. "At first, reports said there were three deaths. Now, reports go up to hundreds of deaths, but then we're out of contact with the entire parts of western side of the southern peninsula."

Shapiro said he visited Immaculate Conception Hospital in the southern port city of Les Cayes on Friday. He described conditions there as "horrific."

"There is no electricity," he said. "There are still pools of water on the floor. They're not accepting patients. There are a couple of of doctors. We're talking about the biggest city in the southern peninsula."

He added, "I met with the medical director and he said he needs help, please. We feel like he's somebody who can really lead the efforts in Les Cayes but he just needs help."

Margaret Traub, head of global initiatives for International Medical Corps, told CNN on Friday night that the same hospital had received two new cholera cases since the hurricane. More than 28,500 cases of cholera had already been reported in Haiti in 2016, according to the Pan American Health Organization.

"They have no cleaning supplies," Traub said of the main hospital in Les Cayes.

"They don't have antibiotics... When we were there, the floor was quite dirty because the storm had swept through a lot of mud and dirt. They swept it up as fast as they can, but they don't have chlorine. They don't have the proper supplies in what is essentially a receiving ward for patients. While I was there, one patient who was very ill threw up all over the floor. There was only one nurse for the entire ward."

In Haiti, nine of the country's 15 main hospitals remain operational and five are unreachable by phone or radio, the Pan American Health Organization said this week. Les Cayes' main hospital had to be evacuated Tuesday and has since partially reopened.

Hurricane Matthew has left 350,000 people in need of assistance. The country's civil protection authority said that 186 people were injured and more than 61,000 people were in 192 temporary shelters.

Traub described one family she met a shelter in Les Cayes.

"Their home was destroyed and they have only the clothes on their backs and they're living in one room with 200 other people in a school," she said.

"All of these people don't have access to health care. They don't have access to clean water."

Grand' Anse department, and its capital Jeremie, was one among the worst affected areas, according to Ariel Dominique, head of community affairs at the Haitian Embassy in Washington.

There was extensive damage to crops along swaths of southern Haiti.

"We have nothing left to survive on," said Marc Soniel Noel, deputy mayor of the town of Chantal in the hardest hit area. "All the crops have gone. All fruit trees are down. I don't have a clue how this is going to be fixed."</s>On Tuesday, Hurricane Matthew moved slowly through Haiti’s south-west armed with heavy rain and 145 miles per hour wind. Any country subjected to a category 4 hurricane would suffer great damage to its infrastructure. Haiti, however, experienced a catastrophe. 



Because of that, you are certain to see more pictures of a devastated Haiti in the next few days. Yet westerners wanting to help shouldn’t assume that there are no resources available to Haitians in country. They may not be sufficient and may become depleted quickly, but there are resources. While charitable goods may provide temporary relief, they can hinder recovery in the long run to the extent that they can have a negative impact on the local economy.

A great problem in Haiti is a lack of investment – not humanitarian funds – and that is evident in the aftermath of Matthew. Neither Haitian authorities nor their international allies have invested much in response capacity. The international community’s lack of trust and confidence in Haitian authorities leads to reliance on international NGOs. This results in a piecemeal approach to addressing Haiti’s serious shortcomings.



The hurricane lifted off roofs and destroyed much of the housing stock in Les Cayes and Jérémie, the two major provincial capitals in the south-west. It washed out roads and destroyed bridges, halting regular commerce and travel. Authorities have reported that more than 100 people have lost their lives. Haitians expect the toll to be much higher. A slow, frustrating recovery process is certain to follow, hampered by outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as cholera. Whether it will be successful is unclear.

The country’s vulnerability is compounded by lack of preparedness and insufficient management capacity. One may be suddenly jolted from bed by a severe unexpected earthquake, but we get yearly projections of the number of hurricanes that might develop in the Atlantic Ocean. And when either tropical storms or hurricanes arise, there are sufficient warnings about their paths and potential severity. 



Haiti did issue warnings and deployed some resources for disaster relief. But it’s long been the case that Haiti and its international allies have allocated too few resources to disaster prevention or post-disaster relief, hoping instead that the country will be miraculously spared.

For instance, the Haiti Reconstruction Fund – a fund established in 2010 and managed by the World Bank on behalf of various donor countries – disbursed this year through 30 June just $16.7m out of a total of $351m for disaster relief purposes. One of the reasons why only a tiny fraction of that money has been used is that most of the money is meant to be used for earthquake reconstruction.

Relief aid should be empowering. It should be delivered quickly to meet urgent needs, not be used as a permanent channel for relieving normal stress and pain associated with development woes. In times of tragedy, it is important to distinguish between the do-gooders and the predators. It is quite easy for predators to have the upper hand when they can cast themselves as valuable intermediaries. 



Hurricane Matthew has disrupted the expected course of events. We should not seek to put Haiti back on course. We need to change course altogether, use disruption to identify another course of action in consultation with Haitians.

Haiti is a relatively vibrant society endowed with smart and resourceful citizens who have a better idea of the possible than even the most diploma-laden foreign experts. We shouldn’t assume that Haitians are so impoverished and weak that they can’t fend for themselves. We just need to ensure that domestic resources are supplemented, not supplanted.</s>The central government’s official death toll stood at nearly 300, but authorities doing the on-ground assessment in remote corners of the southwestern peninsula said it would likely be significantly higher when the full accounting was complete.

Saint-Victor Jeune, an official with the Civil Protection agency working in Beaumont, in the mountains on the outskirts of hard-hit Jeremie, said his team found 82 bodies that had not been recorded by authorities in the capital because of spotty communications. Most appeared to have died from falling debris from the winds that tore through the area at 145 mph on Tuesday.

“We don’t have any contact with Port-au-Prince yet and there are places we still haven’t reached,” Jeune said, as he and a team of Civil Protection agents in orange vests combed through the area.

As Haitians mourned their losses, they tried to recover what they could of their meager possessions. Homes throughout the area were piles of rubble, the roofs mangled or stripped away.

Telemaque Dieuseal, 54-year-old farmer, fled his small house to stay with a cousin but returned to find that his TV, motorcycle and radio were nowhere to be found among the wreckage.

“The thieves were out all day after the storm stealing everything they could get,” Dieuseal said. “It’s going to take a long time to get back on my feet.”

Workers from the International Organization of Migration and other groups were going through the area to assess the damage and provide assistance, though their efforts were hampered by damaged roads, rough terrain and other factors.

“Devastation is everywhere,” said Pilus Enor, mayor of Camp Perrin, a town near the port city of Les Cayes on the peninsula’s south shore. “Every house has lost its roof.”

Officials were especially concerned about the department of Grand-Anse on the northern tip of the peninsula, where they believe the death toll and damage is highest. The 283 deaths reported by Pierre did not include Grand-Anse or its surrounding areas.

When Category 4 Hurricane Flora hit Haiti in 1963, it killed as many as 8,000 people.

More bodies began to appear Thursday as waters receded in some places two days after Matthew’s 145 mph winds smashed concrete walls, flattened palm trees and tore roofs off homes, forcing thousands of Haitians to flee.

Those killed in Haiti included a woman and her 6-year-old daughter who frantically abandoned their flimsy home and headed to a nearby church to seek shelter as Matthew surged in early Tuesday, said Ernst Ais, mayor of the town of Cavaillon.

“On the way to the church, the wind took them,” Ais said.

Officials said that food and water were urgently needed, noting that crops had been leveled, wells inundated by seawater and some water treatment facilities destroyed.

In Les Cayes, many people searched for clean water as they lugged mattresses and other belongings they were able to salvage.

“Nothing is going well,” said Jardine Laguerre, a teacher. “The water took what little money we had. We are hungry.”

Officials with the Pan American Health Organization warned about a possible surge in cholera cases because of the widespread flooding caused by Matthew. Haiti’s cholera outbreak has killed roughly 10,000 people and sickened more than 800,000 since 2010, when it was introduced into the country’s biggest river from a U.N. base where Nepalese peacekeepers were deployed.

Haiti’s government has estimated at least 350,000 people need some kind of assistance in what is likely to be the country’s worst humanitarian crisis since the devastating earthquake of January 2010.

International aid groups are already appealing for donations for a lengthy recovery effort in Haiti, the hemisphere’s least-developed and most aid-dependent nation.

In the coming days, the U.S. military expects to help deliver food and water to hard-hit areas via helicopter.

After passing over Haiti, Matthew hit Cuba’s lightly populated eastern tip Tuesday night, damaging hundreds of homes in the easternmost city of Baracoa but there were no reports of deaths. Nearly 380,000 people were evacuated and measures were taken to protect infrastructure.

Matthew advanced up the length of the Bahamas on Wednesday and Thursday, tearing roofs away, toppling trees and causing flooding that trapped some people in their homes. There had been no reports of casualties by late Thursday as the storm headed toward Florida’s coast.

Before hitting Haiti, the storm was blamed for four deaths in the Dominican Republic, one in Colombia and one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.</s>CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Some of the South’s most historic cities faced the weakening but still powerful Hurricane Matthew as it plowed north along the Atlantic coast, flooding towns and gouging out roads in its path.

The storm killed at least four people in Florida and knocked out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses, even though its strongest winds stayed just offshore.

Matthew is forecast to move near or over the South Carolina coast Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center reports. The Category 2 hurricane will near North Carolina’s southern coast by Saturday night, the center says.

“Now is the time we ask for prayer,” Gov. Nikki Haley said as she finished an update on storm preparations and bowed her head.

Matthew — the most powerful hurricane to threaten the Atlantic Seaboard in more than a decade — set off alarms as it closed in on the U.S., having left at least 300 people dead in Haiti.

In the end, it brushed the heavily populated areas of Florida and raked the Georgia coast, including some of the state’s islands such as St. Simons and Tybee.

Steve Todd defied orders to evacuate Tybee even after the mayor called and pleaded with him to leave. As conditions rapidly deteriorated Friday night, Todd wasn’t sounding quite so bold.

“I’m not regretting staying,” Todd said by phone. “But I’m not going to lie: There’s a little bit of nervous tension right now.”

Todd said he was staying with friends at a third-story condo, which had lost electricity.

“It’s throwing down right now,” Todd said. “The trees are bending over. We saw a bush fly by. It’s raining sideways now.”

In Florida, the storm gouged out several large sections of the coastal A1A highway north of Daytona Beach and had nearly completely washed out the northbound lane for about a mile at Flagler Beach.

“It’s pretty bad; it’s jagged all over the place,” said Oliver Shields, whose two-story house is within sight of the highway.

The deaths in Florida included an elderly St. Lucie County couple who died from carbon monoxide fumes while running a generator in their garage and two women who were killed in separate events when trees fell on a home and a camper.

About 500,000 people were under evacuation orders in the Jacksonville area, along with another half-million on the Georgia coast. More than 300,000 fled their homes in South Carolina. The latest forecast showed the storm could also scrape the North Carolina coast.

“We have been very fortunate that Matthew’s strongest winds have remained a short distance offshore of the Florida and Georgia coasts thus far, but this should not be a reason to let down our guard,” the Hurricane Center said in a forecast discussion.

St. Augustine, which is the nation’s oldest permanently occupied European settlement and includes a 17th-century Spanish fortress and many historic homes turned into bed-and-breakfasts, was awash in rain and gray seawater that authorities said could top 8 feet.

“It’s a really serious devastating situation,” Mayor Nancy Shaver said of the city of 14,000. “The flooding is just going to get higher and higher and higher.”

Historic downtown Charleston, usually bustling with tourists, was eerily quiet, with many stores and shops boarded up with plywood and protected by stacks of sandbags.

The city announced a midnight-to-6 a.m. curfew Saturday, about the time the coast was expected to take the brunt of the storm.

Matthew lashed Savannah, a city that was settled in 1733 and has a handsome historic district of moss-draped trees, brick and cobblestone streets, Greek Revival mansions and other 18th- and 19th-century homes.

Matthew was expected to bring winds of 50 to 60 mph that could snap branches from the burly live oaks and damage the historic homes. And 8 to 14 inches of rain could bring some street flooding. The extent of the damage wasn’t clear early Saturday.

A small crew of workers Thursday set out to button up the Owens-Thomas house, one of Savannah’s architectural gems. The 1819 Greek Revival mansion serves as a museum.

Sonja Wallen, a curator, said antique rugs and furniture were moved away from the home’s more than 40 windows, many of them still with their original glass. Windows were fitted with plywood and other coverings, while sandbags were stacked at the basement entrance.

“It’s basically a lot of little details — sandbags and duct tape around doorways where water can get in,” Wallen said. “It’s pretty much the same stuff you would do for any home.”

At 2 a.m. EDT, Matthew had sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph), and was centered 45 miles (70 kilometers) south of Hilton Head, South Carolina. It was moving north about 12 mph (19 kph).

Airlines canceled at least 5,000 flights Wednesday through Saturday, including many in and out of Orlando, where all three of the resort city’s world-famous theme parks — Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld — closed because of the storm.

But things began getting back to normal, with flights resuming in Miami and other South Florida airports. And power companies in Florida promised that electricity would be almost fully restored by the end of the weekend.

In areas the storm had already passed, residents and officials began to assess the damage.

Robert Tyler had feared the storm surge would flood his street two blocks from the Cape Canaveral beach. Tree branches fell, he could hear transformers exploding overnight, and the windows seemed as if they were about to blow in, despite the plywood over them.

But in the morning, there wasn’t much water, his home didn’t appear to be damaged on first inspection, and his vehicles were unharmed.

“Overnight, it was scary as heck,” Tyler said. “That description of a freight train is pretty accurate.”

Mohr reported from Orlando, Florida; Gary Fineout in Tallahassee, Florida; Kelli Kennedy and Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Jennifer Kay, Freida Frisaro and Curt Anderson in Miami; Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Janelle Cogan in Orlando, Florida; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, North Carolina; Jeffrey Collins on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Jack Jones and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; and Bruce Smith in Charleston, South Carolina, contributed to this report.</s>A flyover of Haiti by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the devastation left in Matthew's path.

Overnight, the death toll rose to at least 140 people killed by the storm, and officials say many more are still missing.

The brunt of the storm hit the southwestern Tiburon Peninsula, where most of the fatalities were reported.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is considered highly vulnerable to natural disasters.

Food and wanter is scarce, and hospitals are short on resources.

Health officials fear there may be an upsurge in cholera from water contamination after Matthew.

With the country's long-delayed presidential election postponed because of the hurricane, the road to building back may have only just begun.</s>CHARLESTON, S.C. | A fast-weakening Hurricane Matthew continued its march along the Atlantic coast Saturday, lashing two of the South’s most historic cities and some of its most popular resort islands, flattening trees, swamping streets and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands.

The storm was blamed for at least four deaths in the U.S., all in Florida. In its long wake, it also left at least 470 dead in Haiti in one hard-hit district alone, according to officials, with other stricken areas still unreachable four days after the disaster struck.

Matthew raked Georgia and South Carolina with torrential rain and stiff winds, and — for the first time in its run up the U.S. coastline — its storm center blew ashore, making landfall north of Charleston, near the town of McClellanville, where it caused serious flooding.

A car drives past a downed tree as Hurricane Matthew moves through Daytona Beach, Fla. Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. Matthew was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane overnight, and its storm center hung just offshore as it moved up the Florida coastline, sparing communities its full 120 mph winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) Brian Johns is hit by a wave as he tries to video the effects of Hurricane Matthew, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) A car rests in a ditch on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016 in Longwood, Fla. Hurricane Matthew scraped Florida's Atlantic coast early Friday, toppling trees onto homes and knocking out power to more than a half-million people but sparing some of the most heavily populated stretches of shoreline the catastrophic blow many had feared. (Jacob Langston/Orlando Sentinel via AP) Ryan Stasa surverys the damage at Archie's Seabreeze in Fort Pierce, Fla., Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, after Hurricane Matthew passed through. (Zachary Sampson/Tampa Bay Times via AP) An official vehicle passes along the shoulder of Highway A1A after it was partial washed away by Hurricane Matthew, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Flagler Beach, Fla. Hurricane Matthew spared Florida’s most heavily populated stretch from a catastrophic blow Friday but threatened some of the South’s most historic and picturesque cities with ruinous flooding and wind damage as it pushed its way up the coastline. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Keith Paseur, right, and Jamie Day walk through a flooded street from Hurricane Matthew as they check on a neighbor riding out the storm in their downtown store in Brunswick, Ga., Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/David Goldman) An official vehicle navigates debris as it passes along Highway A1A after it was partial washed away by Hurricane Matthew, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Flagler Beach, Fla. Hurricane Matthew spared Florida’s most heavily populated stretch from a catastrophic blow Friday but threatened some of the South’s most historic and picturesque cities with ruinous flooding and wind damage as it pushed its way up the coastline. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Debbie Tait checks on sand bags in the entrance to her hardware store as the street floods with water from Hurricane Matthew in downtown Brunswick, Ga., Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. She and her husband plan on riding the storm out in their store which has been in his family for 90 years. "We're not going anywhere. It's our livelihood," said Tait. (AP Photo/David Goldman) A car attempts to cross the flooded intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Victory Drive Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Savannah, Ga., as Hurricane Matthew hits the coast of Georgia. Governor Nathan Deal called for a mandatory evacuation of all peoples east of Interstate 95 in Georgia but many have refused to leave. (Josh Galemore/Savannah Morning News via AP) Rain from Hurricane Matthew falls on the flooded intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Victory Drive Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. (Josh Galemore/Savannah Morning News via AP) A gas pump sits out of service after Hurricane Matthew knocked out power while passing through St. Simons Island, Ga., Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Matthew plowed north along the Atlantic coast, flooding towns and gouging out roads in its path. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Andy Jones clears away limbs from a tree blocking a road after it fell over from Hurricane Matthew on St. Simons Island, Ga., Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Matthew plowed north along the Atlantic coast, flooding towns and gouging out roads in its path. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Flood waters rise around cars parked on a street near the popular City Market in Charleston, S.C., during Hurricane Matthew on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. The storm moved along the South Carolina coast with the worst winds hitting Charleston on Saturday morning. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith) A truck approaches a fallen tree caused by Hurricane Matthew on I-95 North on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, in Richmond Hill, Ga. Matthew is continuing its march along the Atlantic coast, lashing two of the South's most historic cities and some of its most popular resort islands with heavy rain and stiff winds. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) An unidentified woman is rescued from her vehicle which is floating in waist-deep water on flooded President Street after Hurricane Matthew caused flooding along the east coast of Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton) A truck passes a fallen tree caused by Hurricane Matthew on I-95 North on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, in Richmond Hill, Ga. Matthew is continuing its march along the Atlantic coast, lashing two of the South's most historic cities and some of its most popular resort islands with heavy rain and stiff winds. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) People walk down Station 30 with their dog as Hurricane Matthew hits Sullivan's Island, S.C., Saturday, October 8, 2016. Matthew is continuing its march along the Atlantic coast, lashing two of the South's most historic cities and some of its most popular resort islands with heavy rain and stiff winds. (AP Photo/Mic Smith) A woman who identified herself as Valerie walks along flooded President Street after leaving her homeless camp after Hurricane Matthew caused flooding, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. Matthew plowed north along the Atlantic coast, flooding towns and gouging out roads in its path. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton) A tree and power lines blown over by Hurricane Matthew lay across a road on St. Simons Island, Ga., Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Matthew plowed north along the Atlantic coast, flooding towns and gouging out roads in its path.(AP Photo/David Goldman) Mike Pendergrast moves a wagon down 41st Ave. full of sand to fill with sand bags around his home on the Isle of Palms as Hurricane Matthew approaches the Isle of Palms, S.C., Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Mic Smith) Robert Nicotra braves the wind and rain along the beach on the Isle of Palms, S.C., as Hurricane Matthew approaches, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Mic Smith) Bull River Yacht Club Dock Master Robert Logan leaves the dock after finishing up storm preparations as Hurricane Matthew makes its way up the East Coast, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. Authorities warned that the danger was far from over, with hundreds of miles of coastline in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina still under threat of torrential rain and dangerous storm surge as the most powerful hurricane to menace the Atlantic Seaboard in over a decade pushed north. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)

Up until then, the center, or eye, mercifully stayed just far enough out at sea that coastal communities didn’t feel the full force of Matthew’s winds. As the storm passed one city after another, the reaction was relief that things were nowhere near as bad as many feared.

“We are all blessed that Matthew stayed off our coast,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said. “We are blessed that we didn’t have a direct hit.”

As of 11 a.m., Matthew — by some measures the most powerful hurricane to menace the U.S. in more than a decade — was just barely a hurricane, with winds of 75 mph. That was down from 145 mph when the storm roared into Haiti.

Among the cities bracing for its effects later in the day were Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina. From there, the storm was expected to veer out to sea and loop back around through the Bahamas and toward Florida again, though as a barely noticeable wave.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory warned people not to let their guard down just because Matthew was losing steam.

As the hurricane began making its exit, it looked as if forecasters had gotten it right. Matthew stayed near the middle of the National Hurricane Center map’s “cone of uncertainty” as it scraped the coast. Forecasters defended the large-scale evacuations.

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

In Savannah, Georgia, a historic town of moss-draped squares and antebellum mansions, floodwaters several feet deep submerged a long stretch of President Street, which links downtown to the highway to Georgia’s Tybee Island. A homeless woman was seen staggering through waters up to her neck.

The shivering woman made it to the water’s edge. A bystander handed her a sheet, which she wrapped around her neck.

Matthew also brought some of the highest tides on record along the South Carolina coast. Streets in Charleston — a city of handsome pre-Civil War homes, church steeples and romantic carriage rides — were flooded.

Leigh Webber watched the torrential rains from the porch of her home in the city’s historic district.

“It’s not as bad as maybe I was expecting,” she said.

“I feel badly for a lot of the businesses downtown that have been closed since Wednesday,” she added. “I noticed a lot of hotels were completely closed. I know some weddings were canceled and it was a huge financial loss for a lot of people.”

South Carolina’s golf-and-tennis resort Hilton Head Island also took a blow as the eye of the storm passed 20 miles to the east. At least one gust of 87 mph was recorded at Hilton Head.

The two roads onto the island of 40,000 people were blocked by fallen pine trees, and many roads were under water. Signs were blown over, and power was out across the island.

Chandler Brunson and was among those trying to go back to her home after evacuating, but found her path blocked.

“I think we’re going to have a pine tree splitting our house,” she said. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Residents of Brunswick, Georgia, woke to roads covered by water or fallen trees and power lines. All access points to nearby St. Simons Island from the mainland were blocked. Tybee Island also took a beating, with gusts clocked at 93 mph.

Nearly a half-million electric customers in South Carolina were left without power, and 250,000 were in the dark in coastal Georgia.

Matthew set off alarms as it closed in on the U.S., triggering evacuation orders covering at least 2 million people. But in the end, the hurricane skirted Florida’s heavily populated Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area and sideswiped cities farther north, including Daytona Beach, Vero Beach, Cape Canaveral and Jacksonville, without its center ever actually coming ashore in Florida.

The damage consisted largely of fallen trees and power lines, eroded beaches and flooded roads. In northeastern Florida, the storm gouged out several large sections of the coastal A1A highway north of Daytona Beach.

Well south of the storm, things quickly began returning to normal Saturday, with all three of Orlando’s main theme parks — Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld — reopening in the morning. And the power began coming back on for the 1 million people in Florida who lost it.

The deaths in Florida included an elderly St. Lucie County 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.

Fire Chief Don Petito said waves and storm surge flattened sand dunes and allowed water to inundate a community in Florida’s Flagler County. At one point, he said, rescuers getting people out of homes saw a shark in the water. No one was hurt.

The storm raked yet another historic Southern city on its way up the coast: St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded by the Spanish in the 1500s and includes a 17th-century stone fortress and many historic homes turned into bed-and-breakfasts. The city was left awash in rain and gray seawater, though the floodwaters had mostly receded by Saturday morning.

Property manager Nick Trunck was in the city’s historic district to check on several stores and apartments. He said he was prepared for the worst, but the damage consisted of little more than several lost shingles, a lost awning and water seeping into one area.

Trunck had arranged for 10 men to come from Connecticut to help with the cleanup, but after getting a look at the aftermath, he said he didn’t think he needed anything but “a couple of guys and a mop.”

Associated Press writers Holbrook Mohr in Orlando, Florida; Gary Fineout in Tallahassee, Florida; Kelli Kennedy and Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Jennifer Kay, Freida Frisaro and Curt Anderson in Miami; Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Janelle Cogan in Orlando, Florida; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, North Carolina; Jeffrey Collins on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Jack Jones and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; and Bruce Smith in Charleston, South Carolina, contributed to this report.</s>Hurricane Matthew continued its march along the Atlantic coast yesterday morning, lashing two of the American South’s most historic cities, flooding towns and gouging out roads. The storm was blamed for at least four deaths in Florida and knocked out power to more than one million homes and businesses as it made its way northward. In its long wake, it left well over 800 people dead in Haiti.

Yesterday, Matthew raked the Georgia and South Carolina coasts with torrential rain, staying just far enough offshore that coastal communities did not feel the force of its winds.

At 8am, Matthew was centred about 20 miles south-east of Charleston, its winds having dropped to 85mph, a Category 1 storm. That was down from 145mph when the storm roared into Haiti.

Matthew brought heavy rain and some of the highest tides on record along the South Carolina coast. Streets and intersections in historic Charleston were flooded.

At least one wind gust of 87mph was recorded at the Hilton Head, South Carolina.

The storm also lashed Savannah, Georgia, another historic town of moss-draped squares and antebellum mansions.

More than 150,000 electric customers in South Carolina were without power, and 250,000 were in the dark in coastal Georgia. Matthew was expected to near North Carolina’s southern coast last night.

“Now is the time we ask for prayer,” Governor Nikki Haley said, bowing her head.

Matthew – the most powerful hurricane to threaten the Atlantic Seaboard in more than a decade – set off alarms as it closed in on the US.

But in the end, it skirted Florida’s heavily populated Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area, and sideswiped the cities farther north, including Daytona Beach, Vero Beach, Cape Canaveral and Jacksonville, without its centre actually coming ashore.

From there, it scraped the Georgia coast, including the resort islands of St Simons and Tybee.

Resident Steve Todd defied orders to evacuate Tybee even after the mayor called and pleaded with him to leave. As conditions rapidly deteriorated on Friday night, Todd wasn’t sounding quite so bold.

“I’m not regretting staying,” Todd said by telephone. “But I’m not going to lie: there’s a little bit of nervous tension right now.”

Todd said he was staying with friends at a third-storey flat, which had lost electricity.

“It’s throwing down right now,” Todd said. “The trees are bending over. We saw a bush fly by. It’s raining sideways now.”

In Florida, the storm gouged out several large sections of the coastal A1A highway north of Daytona Beach. “It’s pretty bad; it’s jagged all over the place,” said Oliver Shields.

The deaths in Florida included an elderly St Lucie County 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.

About 500,000 people were under evacuation orders in the Jacksonville area, along with another half-million on the Georgia coast. More than 300,000 fled their homes in South Carolina.

St Augustine, which is the nation’s oldest permanently occupied European settlement, was left awash in rain and grey seawater.</s>The number of deaths in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, surged to at least 842 on Friday as information trickled in from remote areas previously cut off by the storm, according to a Reuters tally of death tolls given by officials.

Matthew triggered mass evacuations along the U.S. coast from Florida through Georgia and into South Carolina and North Carolina.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged people not to be complacent and to heed safety instructions.

"The potential for storm surge, loss of life and severe property damage exists," Obama told reporters, after a briefing with emergency management officials about the fiercest cyclone to affect the United States since Superstorm Sandy four years ago.

Matthew smashed through Haiti's western peninsula on Tuesday with 145 mile-per-hour (233 km-per-hour) winds and torrential rain. Some 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm pushed the sea into fragile coastal villages, some of which were only now being contacted.

While highlighting the misery of underdevelopment in Haiti, which is still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake, the storm looked certain to rekindle the debate about global warming and the long-term threat posed to low-lying cities and towns by rising sea levels.

At least three towns in the hills and coast of Haiti's fertile western tip reported dozens of people killed, including the farming village of Chantal where the mayor said 86 people died, mostly when trees crushed houses. He said 20 others were missing.

"A tree fell on the house and flattened it. The entire house fell on us. I couldn't get out," said driver Jean-Pierre Jean-Donald, 27, who had been married for only a year.

"People came to lift the rubble, and then we saw my wife who had died in the same spot," Jean-Donald said, his young daughter by his side, crying "Mommy."

With cellphone networks down and roads flooded, aid has been slow to reach hard-hit areas in Haiti. Food was scarce, and at least seven people died of cholera, likely because of flood water mixing with sewage.

The Mesa Verde, a U.S. Navy amphibious transport dock ship, was heading for Haiti to support relief efforts. The ship has heavy-lift helicopters, bulldozers, fresh water delivery vehicles and two surgical operating rooms.

AT LEAST ONE DEAD IN FLORIDA

Matthew sideswiped Florida's coast with winds of up to 120 mph (195 kph) but did not make landfall in the state. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) downgraded the storm to a Category 2 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity as its sustained winds dropped to 110 mph. Category 5 is the strongest.

There were no immediate reports of significant damage in Florida cities and towns where the storm swamped streets and toppled trees and knocked out power to more than 1 million people. But CNN reported at least four storm-related deaths.

One person was killed by a falling tree in Volusia County after venturing outside to feed animals during a lull in the storm, said James Dinneen, manager of the county that includes Daytona Beach.

Hurricane warnings late on Friday extended up the Atlantic coast from northeast Florida through Georgia and South Carolina and into North Carolina.

In Daytona Beach, the street under the city's famed "World's Most Famous Beach" sign was clogged with debris washed up by the ocean. The waves had receded by early afternoon, but there was damage throughout the city, including a facade ripped off the front of a seaside hotel.

Robert Walker, a 51-year-old mechanic, weathered the worst of the storm in his seaside Daytona Beach apartment where high-powered winds peeled back the roof.

"It sounded like a jet plane coming over. I was scared," said Walker, as he stood in front of the battered remains of the two-story building..

At 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT Saturday) Matthew's eye or center was moving northward just off the coasts of Georgia and northeast Florida, the NHC said.

After passing near or over the coast of Georgia it was on a track that would put it near or over South Carolina on Saturday. Though gradually weakening, it was forecast to remain a hurricane until it begins moving away from the U.S. Southeast on Sunday, the NHC said.

Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said he was concerned that relatively light damage so far could give people up the coast a false sense of security.

"People should not be looking at the damages they're seeing and saying this storm is not that bad," Fugate told NBC.

"The real danger still is storm surge, particularly in northern Florida and southern Georgia. These are very vulnerable areas. They've never seen this kind of damage potential since the late 1800s," Fugate said.

In St. Augustine just south of Jacksonville, Florida, about half of the 14,000 residents refused to heed evacuation orders despite warnings of an 8-foot (2.4-meter) storm surge that could sink entire neighborhoods, Mayor Nancy Shaver said in a telephone interview from the area's emergency operations center.

Television images later showed water surging through streets in the historic downtown area of St. Augustine, the oldest U.S. city and a major tourist attraction.

"There's that whole inability to suspend disbelief that I think really affects people in a time like this," Shaver said.
Hurricane Matthew hits the southeastern United States as the death toll in Haiti rises to at least 877.