At least five deaths in Florida were attributed to the storm, which knocked out power to almost 1.6 million households and businesses in the U.S. Southeast. Matthew sideswiped Florida's coast with winds of up to 120 mph but did not make landfall there. Matthew howled through Haiti's western peninsula on Tuesday with 145 mph (233 kph) winds and torrential rain. Matthew, which still packs 105 miles per hour winds, is expected to move into South Carolina Saturday morning and reach North Carolina by night. “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. Now weakened, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007 left flooding and wind damage in Florida before moving slowly north to soak coastal Georgia and the Carolinas. 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.
Hurricane Matthew, responsible for killing 13 people and knocking out power to 2.2 million households and businesses in the Southeastern United States, is now a Category 1 hurricane (75 mph;120 km/h winds) approaching the North Carolina coast.