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.
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."
Hurricane Matthew made landfall Saturday morning southeast of the town of McClellanville, S.C. The storm, which weakened to Category 1 as it came ashore, has brought heavy rains of up to 15 inches resulting in massive flooding along coastal regions. Authorities had already declared a state of emergency in Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida and asked close to two million people living in the low-lying areas to evacuate. Around 1.2 million people in the hurricane’s path have lost power supply. Meanwhile, in Haiti, the death toll doubled to almost 900 people. Above, storm victims in Port Salute, Haiti, hang their salvaged belongings on a fallen tree Saturday.
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.
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.
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