US evacuations begin as Hurricane Matthew nears Florida

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>People boarded up beach homes&comma; schools closed and officials ordered evacuations along the East Coast as Hurricane Matthew tore through the Bahamas and took aim at Florida&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Matthew was a dangerous and life-threatening Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 120 mph&comma; and it was expected to be very near Florida&&num;8217&semi;s Atlantic coast by Thursday evening&period; At least 11 deaths in the Caribbean have been blamed on the storm&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In South Carolina&comma; traffic was bumper-to-bumper as people fled on Interstate 26&comma; the main artery out of Charleston&period; Petrol was hard to come by&comma; with at least half a dozen stations along the coast out of fuel and long lines at others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We&&num;8217&semi;re staying because we have to board the house up&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Buff Schwab said as she wheeled in a cooler filled with food she purchased the night before at a local supermarket&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Storm shutters were closed on a number of palatial homes overlooking Charleston&&num;8217&semi;s Civil War-era Battery along the water&period; Carriage tours made their way down streets that were largely empty of traffic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I&&num;8217&semi;m worried&period; I&&num;8217&semi;ve gotten a lot of calls to go home&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Ms Schwab said of her relatives in North Carolina&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;It is what it is and we&&num;8217&semi;re going to sit it out and put a lot of food in the crock pot&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Florida&comma; theme parks watched the storm closely and told customers to anticipate altered hours&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were to take place Wednesday in the central part of the state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;If you&&num;8217&semi;re able to go early&comma; leave now&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Governor Rick Scott said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The National Hurricane Centre in Miami said Matthew &&num;8211&semi; at one point a fierce Category 5 &&num;8211&semi; will remain a powerful storm at least through Thursday night as it nears Florida&period; The Hurricane Centre said fluctuation in intensity was expected and some strengthening is forecast in coming days as the storm crawls up the coast&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Forecasters said there was a danger of life-threatening storm surge inundation along Florida&&num;8217&semi;s east coast&comma; much of which was under a hurricane watch or warning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;When a hurricane is forecast to take a track roughly parallel to a coastline&comma; as Matthew is forecast to do from Florida through South Carolina&comma; it becomes very difficult to specify impacts at any one location&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said senior hurricane specialist Lixion Avila&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>President Barack Obama was briefed on the federal government&&num;8217&semi;s preparation at the Federal Emergency Management Agency&&num;8217&semi;s &lpar;Fema&rpar; headquarters in Washington&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;HurricaneMatthewCubaB5Oct16&lowbar;large&period;jpg"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;HurricaneMatthewCubaB5Oct16&lowbar;large&period;jpg" alt&equals;"hurricanematthewcubab5oct16&lowbar;large" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"325" class&equals;"alignleft size-full wp-image-97799" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Now is the time to &&num;8220&semi;hope for the best but we want to prepare for the worst&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Mr Obama said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Fema has deployed personnel to emergency operation centres in Florida&comma; Georgia&comma; South Carolina and North Carolina&period; It is also positioning commodities and other supplies at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and in Albany&comma; Georgia&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley announced plans starting on Wednesday afternoon to evacuate a quarter million people &&num;8211&semi; not including tourists &&num;8211&semi; from the coast&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ms Haley said 315 buses were dispatched to two major coastal counties to help with evacuations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The National Guard and other law enforcement agents are mobilised&comma; ready to ensure an orderly evacuation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We ask everybody to please be safe&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Ms Haley said&comma; warning those thinking of staying put that they could be risking the life of a law enforcement officer if they had to be rescued later&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Florida&comma; a message on Walt Disney World&&num;8217&semi;s website on Wednesday said all of its theme parks and resorts are &&num;8220&semi;currently operating under normal conditions&&num;8221&semi; as officials continue to monitor the storm&period; They advised those who plan on visiting Disney to monitor news outlets for the latest weather information&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Officials at SeaWorld in Orlando announced on its website that officials &&num;8220&semi;anticipate altered hours due to Hurricane Matthew&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Melbourne Beach&comma; Florida&comma; Carlos and April Medina wanted to get a jump start on the evacuation order issued for barrier islands&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They moved their paddle board and kayak inside the garage&period; They took down pictures on the walls and wrapped the frames in blankets on their bed before hopping in a truck filled with legal documents&comma; jewellery and a decorative carved shell that had once belonged to April Medina&&num;8217&semi;s great-grandfather&period; They headed west to Orlando&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Government officials are worried about complacency&comma; especially in South Florida&comma; which has not seen a major hurricane &&num;8211&semi; a Category 3 or higher &&num;8211&semi; in 11 years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hurricane Hermine hit the eastern Panhandle on September 2 as a Category 1 storm&comma; causing one death&comma; storm surge damage to beachfront homes and downed trees and powerlines&period; That was the first hurricane to strike Florida since Wilma &&num;8211&semi; a Category 3 &&num;8211&semi; slammed into the coast in 2005&period; The 11-year lull between Hermine and Wilma was the longest on record for Florida&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Governors in Florida&comma; Georgia&comma; South Carolina and North Carolina declared states of emergency&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed51af38e89">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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