Matthew hammers Florida, begins dayslong beating of coast

CAPE CANAVERAL, 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.

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. They warned, too, that the storm could still take a turn inland.

“It still has time to do a direct hit,” Gov. Rick Scott said in the morning. “This is not over. … It could be the worst part of this is yet to come.”

Meanwhile, the magnitude of the devastation inflicted by Matthew as it roared through the Caribbean became ever clearer, with officials in Haiti raising the official death toll there to nearly 300, while also cautioning that there were scores of bodies that had yet to be recorded.

In Florida, Matthew was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane overnight, and its storm center, eye, hung just offshore Friday morning as it moved up the coastline, sparing communities the full force of its 120 mph winds.

Still, it got close enough to knock down trees and power lines, and a 107 mph gust was recorded at Cape Canaveral. Nearly 600,000 people lost electricity.

At 11 a.m., Matthew was centered about 35 miles northeast of Daytona Beach and about 95 miles southeast of Jacksonville. Its wind speed was holding steady, and it was moving northwest at 12 mph.

About 500,000 people were told to evacuate the Jacksonville area, and another half-million were under evacuation orders in Georgia.

As the storm closed in over the past few days, an estimated 2 million people across the Southeast were warned to clear out.

In the end, Matthew largely skirted the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Palm Beach areas of over 6 million people and hugged closer to the coast farther north, menacing such communities as Vero Beach, Daytona Beach, Cape Canaveral, St. Augustine and Jacksonville.

Despite the warnings to leave, many hunkered down and hoped for the best.

The door to Darrell Etheridge’s garage was blown off, but the Vero Beach resident said the storm was no big deal. There was no flooding and he had power for most of the night, only losing cable TV.

While the wind’s howling “sounded like a pack of wolves,” he said, “I got off damn good.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson said at least four callers reported trees falling onto their homes in the Daytona Beach area. No injuries were reported.

Some people who refused to evacuate were stranded and called for help but were told to stay put until conditions improved enough for paramedics and firefighters to get to them, said emergency spokesman David Waters in Brevard County, the home of Cape Canaveral.

“A family called in that the roof just flew off their home on Merritt Island,” Waters said.

NASA reported mostly minor damage at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, including damage to some parked cars and an office building roof.

Still, National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb reminded residents of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas that storm surge is the biggest threat to people’s lives during a hurricane, even when the storm’s eye remains offshore.

“If you’re hoping it’s is just going to pass far enough offshore that this isn’t a problem anymore – that is a very, very big mistake that you could make that could cost you your life,” Knabb said.

Forecasters said Matthew could dump up to 15 inches of rain in some spots and cause a storm surge of 9 feet or more.

Airlines canceled at least 4,500 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.

Airports in South Florida began returning to normal, however, with American Airlines seeing its first arrival at its Miami hub at 9:05 a.m.

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 have damage 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.”

Kennedy reported from Fort Lauderdale. Associated Press reporters Holbrook Mohr in Orlando; Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Jennifer Kay, Freida Frisaro, 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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Hurricane Matthew spun dangerously close to Florida’s Atlantic coast Friday morning, scraping the shore with howling wind and heavy rain that left more than 476,000 without power.

Matthew was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane overnight with the strongest winds of 120 mph just offshore as the storm pushed north, threatening hundreds of miles of coastline in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. A 107 mph gust was recorded in Cape Canaveral.

Two million people were told to move inland to escape a potentially catastrophic blow from a storm that left more than 280 dead in its wake across the Caribbean, but many hunkered down and hoped for the best.

Some people who refused to evacuate were stranded and called for help early Friday, but were told to stay put until conditions improved enough for paramedics and firefighters to get to them, said Brevard County Emergency Operations spokesman David Waters.

“A family called in that the roof just flew off their home on Merritt Island,” Waters said.

It was a scene officials hoped to avoid in other cities as the storm pushed north.

In Jacksonville, where 500,000 people were told to evacuate, Mayor Lenny Curry warned that authorities would not be able to help them during the worst of the storm.

“You need to leave, if you do not leave you will be on your own,” Curry said.

Despite dire warnings, many people along the Florida coast decided to take their chances.

In Cape Canaveral, John Long rode out the storm in his 32-foot camper in a park about half a mile from the beach.

He lost power shortly before dawn but quickly fired up his generator. Small tree branches battered the vehicle but the large ones on the park’s giant oak trees didn’t fall.

“It was kind of loud and kind of shaky but nothing that caused too much concern,” he said.

Robert Tyler had feared a storm surge flooding his street, which is only two blocks from the Cape Canaveral beach.

But he and his wife, Georgette, felt fortunate Friday morning when they looked out the front door of their one-story cinder block apartment and there wasn’t much water.

Tree branches littered the road and he could hear the transformers blowing up overnight, but his home didn’t appear to have damage on first inspection and his vehicles were unharmed.

“Overnight, it was scary as heck. That description of a freight train is pretty accurate. At one point it felt like the windows were going to blow even though they all were covered with plywood,” he said.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott called it a “blessing” Friday morning that so far Florida was avoiding a direct hit as the storm sliced northward.

Still Scott stressed during a television appearance on “CBS This Morning” and NBC’s “Today” show that there was still time for people living in the Jacksonville area to evacuate. The storm was expected to bring a large volume of water onshore and Scott noted there are a lot of low-lying areas in northeast Florida.

“There’s no reason to be taking a risk,” he said.

Moe than 1.5 million people in Florida were asked to evacuate ahead of Matthew, the first major hurricane storm to hit the state in 11 years.

The number of homes and businesses without power jumped by the hour as the storm edged closer to the coast. More than 476,000 were in the dark Friday morning.

As of 8 a.m. EDT Friday, the hurricane was hugging the coast of central Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center. Matthew was centered about 35 miles north-northeast of Cape Canaveral and moving north-northwest around 13 mph.

After Florida, forecasters said Matthew would probably hug the coast of Georgia and South Carolina over the weekend before veering out to sea – perhaps even looping back toward Florida in the middle of next week as a tropical storm.

The hurricane had been a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm, but weakened slightly early Friday to a Category 3. Forecasters said it could dump up to 15 inches of rain in some spots and cause a storm surge of 9 feet or more.

They said the major threat to the Southeast would not be the winds – which newer buildings can withstand – but the massive surge of seawater that could wash over coastal communities along a 500-mile stretch from South Florida to the Charleston, South Carolina, area.

President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, freeing up federal money and personnel to protect lives and property.

The Fort Lauderdale and Orlando airports shut down. Airlines canceled more than 3,000 flights Thursday and Friday, many of them in or out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Amtrak suspended train service between Miami and New York, and cruise lines rerouted ships to avoid the storm, which in some cases will mean more days at sea.

Orlando’s world-famous theme parks – Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld – all closed.

“I never get time off. I’m a little sad,” tourist Amber Klinkel, 25, of Battle Creek, Michigan, lamented at Universal.

Patients were transferred from two Florida waterfront hospitals and a nursing home near Daytona Beach to safer locations.

Thousands of people hunkered down in schools converted to shelters, and inland hotels in places such as Charlotte, North Carolina, reported brisk business.

At the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, NASA no longer has to worry about rolling space shuttles back from the launch pad to the hangar because of hurricanes, since the shuttle fleet is now retired. But the spaceflight company SpaceX was concerned about the storm’s effect on its leased seaside pad.

The last Category 3 storm or higher to hit the U.S. was Wilma in October 2005. It sliced across Florida with 120 mph winds, killing five people and causing an estimated $21 billion in damage.

With hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 60 miles, Matthew could wreak havoc along the U.S. coast even if its center stayed offshore.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal ordered an evacuation of the entire Georgia coast, covering more than a half-million people. It was the first hurricane evacuation along the Georgia coast since 1999, when the state narrowly escaped Floyd.

“We have a house that sits right here on the water and we kind of said goodbye to it thinking that, you know, the house … might not be here when we get back,” said Jennifer Banker, a resident of Georgia’s dangerously exposed St. Simons Island. “You know, we pray a lot and trust God to provide.”

Kennedy reported from Fort Lauderdale. Associated Press reporters Holbrook Mohr in Orlando; Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Jennifer Kay, Freida Frisaro, 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.