Hurricane Matthew downgraded to Category 1 after killing nearly 900 in Haiti

Destruction of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti
(Image credit: Nicolas Garcia/Getty Images)

Hurricane Matthew was downgraded to a Category 1 storm Saturday as it headed toward the Carolinas, though flooding, winds up to 85 mph, and storm surges up to 9 feet are expected.

"I just want to emphasize to everybody that this is still a really dangerous hurricane, that the potential for storm surge, loss of life, and severe property damage exists," President Obama said Friday as the storm weakened, emphasizing that downgrades to the storm's status do not mean the danger is gone.

Before making landfall in the United States, Matthew wreaked havoc in Haiti, where the death toll has nearly reached 900 with tens of thousands more Haitians displaced or made homeless by the storm's devastation. Four people were killed in Florida, and Matthew left at least 1.5 million people without power in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.