Hurricane Matthew: storm surge threat to Carolinas and Georgia - as it happened

We’re wrapping up this live blog on Hurricane Matthew. Here’s what we know:

• Almost 900 people have been killed - mostly in Haiti, where the death toll is expected to keep rising as isolated areas are reached
• Wind gusts above 90mph and storm surges of up to 4.8ft have been reported in Georgia and South Carolina
  
• The eye of the storm is about 20 miles south-southeast of Hilton Head, South Carolina and is moving northward at 12 mph, with 105mph winds
• Matthew is expected to make landfall on the North Carolina coast on Saturday night
• Evacuations, power failures and flooding have affected four US states
• Click here for our latest live coverage

Weather forecaster Henry Rothenberg tweets:

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While attention is now turned to the hurricane’s impact on the US, with at least four deaths in Florida, let’s not forget that almost 900 people have died in Haiti.

Officials say the death toll is expected to continue to rise as help reaches isolated towns in the island nation, which is still recovering from a devastating earthquake six years ago.

There are fears of a cholera outbreak in many areas because of the lack of clean water.

The National Hurrucane Centre has just issued its latest update on the hurricane.

A private weather station on Tybee Island, Georgia, recently reported a wind gust of 93 mph (150 km/h), while another private weather station in Beaufort, South Carolina, recorded a wind gust of 83 mph (133 km/h). A wind gust of 85 mph (137 km/h) was recently measured at the airport on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Water levels remain high along much of the St. Johns River, with 3.0 feet of storm surge inundation reported at the Racy Point tide gauge. About 4.8 ft of storm surge inundation was reported at Ft. Pulaski, Georgia, near Savannah, and 3.5 ft of storm surge inundation has been reported at the Port of Charleston, South Carolina.

This is the latest update from the National Hurricane Center on the probable path of the storm over the coming days.

It is expected to near North Carolina’s southern coast by Saturday night.

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Some dramatic video from CNN as the hurricane hit Daytona beach in Florida.

Hurricane-force winds are now moving onshore at Hilton Head and Pritchards Island, South Carolina, the National Hurricane Center reports.

Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has raised concern that relatively light damage so far could give people up the US coast a false sense of security. He told NBC:

People should not be looking at the damages they’re seeing and saying this storm is not that bad.

The real danger still is storm surge, particularly in northern Florida and southern Georgia. These are very vulnerable areas. They’ve never seen this kind of damage potential since the late 1800s.

In St. Augustine just south of Jacksonville, Florida, about half of the 14,000 residents refused to heed evacuation orders despite warnings of an 8-foot (2.4-meter) storm surge that could sink entire neighborhoods, Mayor Nancy Shaver said in a telephone interview from the area’s emergency operations center. Television images later showed water surging through streets in the historic downtown area of St. Augustine, the oldest U.S. city and a major tourist attraction. “There’s that whole inability to suspend disbelief that I think really affects people in a time like this,” Shaver said.

As it stands, Matthew has killed at least 877 in Haiti and left tens of thousands homeless in the Caribbean country. The hurricane smashed through Haiti’s western peninsula on Tuesday with 145 mile-per-hour (233 kph) winds and torrential rain. At least three towns in the hills and coast of Haiti’s fertile western tip reported dozens of people killed, including the farming village of Chantal where the mayor said 86 people died, mostly when trees crushed houses. Food was scarce in Haiti and at least seven people died of cholera, likely because of flood water mixing with sewage. The Mesa Verde, a US Navy amphibious transport dock ship, was heading for Haiti to support relief efforts.

Matthew has also triggered mass evacuations along the US coast from Florida through Georgia and into South Carolina and North Carolina. It is forecast to move near or over the South Carolina coast Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center reports, and it will near North Carolina’s southern coast by Saturday night.

The hurricane sideswiped Florida’s coast with winds of up to 120 mph (195 kph) but did not make landfall in the state. There were at least four storm-related deaths in Florida but no immediate reports of significant damage in cities and towns where the storm swamped streets, toppled trees and knocked out power to more than 1 million people. Two people were killed by falling trees, according to Florida officials, and an elderly couple died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator while sheltering from the storm inside a garage.

The hurricane raked the Georgia coast, including some of the state’s islands such as St. Simons and Tybee.

At 2 a.m. EDT, Matthew had sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph), and was centered 45 miles (70 kilometers) south of Hilton Head, South Carolina. It was moving north about 12 mph (19 kph).

Barack Obama urged people not to be complacent and to heed safety instructions.
“The potential for storm surge, loss of life and severe property damage exists,” the president told reporters after a briefing with emergency management officials.

The eyewall of the hurricane is currently right on the coast of South Carolina.

It’s just gone 3am eastern time in the US and the worst of Hurricane Matthew is hitting Savannah, Georgia, and surrounding suburbs and towns.

This is how things stand:

• The death toll in Haiti has risen to 877, according to local officials. The Caribbean country is by far the worst hit by the hurricane, which has since dropped from a category 4 to category 2 system.
• Five people have died in the storm in the US.
• There is a possibility the hurricane could make landfall at Beaufort County, South Carolina, just north of Savannah.
  
• As of about 3am, the eye of the storm was 25 miles (40km) off the coast southeast of Savannah, travelling at 12mph (19km/h) north toward the coast.
• Winds of up to 80mph (128km/h) have been reported on the coast, along with widespread flooding from storm surges.
• More than 1 million people are without power.
• The next US National Hurricane Centre update will be at 5am.

Savannah and surrounding areas are expected to be experiencing the worst of the storm now. We don’t yet have any confirmation of landfall.

There’s a curfew in effect from midnight to 5am for most areas along the southeast coast, and we won’t be able to see the full extent of the damage in southern Georgia and northern Florida until daybreak.

There have also been a number of reports of crashes on the i95. A lot of trees down on the road.

The New York Times summarised the impact of the storm on Florida in this video.

The US National Hurricane Centre has issued its 2am update, which shows the system tracking along the coast to reach North Carolina by 8pm Saturday.

It’s currently travelling north, toward the coast, at 12mph/19kmh. Maximum wind speeds of 105mph/160k/h.

The radar looks pretty scary. That wide yellow band at the bottom of system is the eyewall - if it crosses fully on to land, then Hurricane Matthew will have made landfall for the first time in the US.

There are reports coming through that the eyewall of the hurricane is just about to make, landfall at Hilton Head. That’s not quite the eye of the storm (although there are predictions the eye itself will hit) but it is the area that contains the worst winds.

That’s expected to be in the next half an hour to an hour, so between 2.30am and 3am eastern.

The Savannah River in downtown Savannah has breached its banks, and that flooding is expecting to worsen as the eyewall approaches.

The worst of the weather is expected to reach Hilton Head Island, on the coast just north of Savannah, very soon.