Almost 2 million people urged to evacuate as deadly Hurricane Matthew nears U.S.
As Hurricane Matthew heads toward Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, governors on Wednesday either ordered or strongly encouraged nearly 2 million people along the coast to evacuate.
The National Hurricane Center said the storm, now a category 3, was centered about 400 miles southeast of West Palm Beach, Florida, at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday, and moving northwest. As the hurricane passed through the Bahamas, it was a category 3 with sustained winds of 120 mph, and it is expected to be close to Florida's Atlantic coast by Thursday evening. At least 25 deaths in the Caribbean have been blamed on the hurricane, as well as extensive damage in Haiti.
The last time a hurricane of category 3 or higher hit the U.S. was in October 2005, when Wilma made landfall in southwest Florida with 120 mph winds. It left five people dead, caused an estimated $21 billion in damage, and left thousands without electricity for more than a week.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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