Hurricane Matthew (Latest Update, Map): Flash Flood Fears Loom as Storm Slams Into South Carolina
The powerful Hurricane Matthew reached South Carolina Saturday morning, targeting the city of Charleston with destructive winds to add to major storm surge and flooding from heavy rain.
Matthew, now a Category 1 storm, will continue to produce high winds and heavy rainfall and dangerous storm surge, the National Weather Service said, adding that a high risk of flash flooding was possible along the coast from northern Florida through South Carolina through Saturday.
This siege of impacts is expected to slowly march up the coast to southern North Carolina after hammering coastal Georgia and northeast Florida Friday, according to the Weather Channel, which also said Matthew's storm surge coupled with high tide resulted in a record tide level – just under 8 feet – at Ft. Pulaski, Georgia, early Saturday morning, and storm surge inundation roughly waist-deep was reported at the Port of Charleston, South Carolina.
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The St. Johns River in northeast Florida reached its highest level on record at Shands Bridge, along with 3 to 4.3 feet of storm surge inundation reported at the Racy Point, Red Bay Point and I-295 Bridge tide gauges, it added. As of early Saturday morning, the St. Johns River was flowing backwards.
At 5 a.m. EDT, the storm's eye was about 20 miles south-southeast of Hilton Head, South Carolina, and moving northward at 12 mph with the storm packing 105 mph winds, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
More than 150,000 electric customers in South Carolina, mostly in Beaufort and the Charleston area, were without power Saturday morning, according to Fox News. The storm has left more than 1 million people without power in Florida.
"Now is the time we ask for prayer," South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Friday evening. She said an estimated 355,000 people had fled from coastal areas and that time was running out to leave. "There is nothing safe about what is getting ready to happen."
In North Carolina, a state of emergency has been expanded to all 100 counties.
Rains amounting up to 3 to 7 inches are possible across Central North Carolina as Matthew moves closer, and a Wind Advisory is in effect through Sunday afternoon, ABC11 said. Central North Carolina could see wind gusts up to 40 to 50 miles per hour, it added.
At least four people have died in Florida, according to CNN. A woman in her 60s in Volusia County was hit by a falling tree, and an 82-year-old man and a woman in St. Lucie County also died. Another woman in northeast Florida died after a tree fell on her camper trailer in Putnam County.
