Hurricane Matthew tore up the Florida coast all day and is now taking a bead on Georgia and South Carolina. The storm mostly spared the southern parts of Florida’s east coast, last minute wobbles combined with a downgrade to a Cat 3 may have kept a lid on losses from Melbourne through Kennedy Space Center. But Daytona took a terrible blow, Jacksonville is still reeling, and Matthew may yet fully deliver on its destructive potential to Savannah or Charleston:
According to the latest forecast track, Hurricane Matthew could potentially make landfall near Charleston, South Carolina, as a Category 2 or 3 hurricane on Saturday morning. … Matthew's maximum sustained winds have weakened down to 115 mph but the storm remains a major Category 3 hurricane.
Residents still in the storm’s path should not assume they will be as “lucky,” for lack of a better word, as Southeast Florida was early Friday morning. A direct hit or a near miss by a Cat 2 is nothing to take lightly. And some version of the storm could still revisit that South Florida coastline early next week if the long range forecasts hold up.
Follow all news at the National Hurricane Center, the WeatherUnderground, and find Red Cross Shelters here.