Many folks in Matthew's path hoping for the best
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Hurricane Matthew spun dangerously close to Florida’s Atlantic coast this morning, scraping the shore with howling wind and heavy rain and that left more than 400,000 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 around dawn, threatening more than 500 miles of coastline in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. A 107 mph gust was recorded in Cape Canaveral.
Two million people were warned to flee 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 despite dire warnings.
People who refused to evacuate from central Florida’s Atlantic coast found themselves cut off and were calling for help as Matthew’s western eyewall brushed past Cape Canaveral, officials said.
Brevard County Emergency Operations spokesman David Waters said he talked to families who said things like, “We’re scared. We wish we hadn’t stayed.” One family called in that the roof “just flew off their home on Merritt Island,” Waters 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 this morning when they looked out the front door of their one-story cinder block apartment and there wasn’t much water.
“Overnight, it was scary as heck. That description of a freight train is pretty accurate,” he said.
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.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott called it a “blessing” that so far Florida was avoiding a direct hit.
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.
The number of homes and businesses without power jumped by the hour as the storm edged closer to the coast. More than 420,000 were in the dark by this morning. As of 7 a.m. the hurricane was brushing Cape Canaveral, according to the National Hurricane Center.
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.
