Hurricane Matthew Weakens Slightly, But Continues to Pound Florida Coast

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, left, declared a State of Emergency ahead of Hurricane Matthew, right, which was followed by President Barack Obama. (Photos: AP/National Hurricane Center [NHC])

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said Hurricane Matthew weakened slightly to a Category 3 storm as it approached Florida, but continues to pose a threat. The storm, which is the most powerful in more than a decade, continues to threaten the peninsula with winds upward of 120 mph and dangerous storm surges.

“We’re very concerned about Jacksonville,” Gov. Rich Scott said at a press conference in Daytona Beach Friday morning. “There’s potential for devastation there.”

He said he denied a request to reinstate fees on toll roads.

UPDATE: As of Friday morning, officials say more than 500,000 are without power.

Forecasters said Hurricane Matthew will likely continue to hug the coast of Georgia and South Carolina over the weekend before heading out to sea. It is possible for it to even loop back toward Florida in the middle of next week as a tropical storm. On Thursday, President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, at the request of the state’s governors. The declaration frees up federal money and personnel to assist with crisis management.

The death toll from Hurricane Matthew has soared to over 300 in Haiti, including “several dozen” in one coastal town on the country’s southwestern peninsula, local officials tell Reuters. In Florida, officials say one elderly woman has died from cardiac arrest after she decided to stay behind and could not get the emergency medical help she required, a scenario Gov. Scott had warned Floridians about for days.

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