Obama's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate efforts to alleviate the suffering caused by the hurricane. The directive applies to more than two dozen counties in Florida. Joacksonville, Florida Mayor Lenny Curry also warned local residents of preparing in advance for the sotrm and urged them to evacuate the areas that will most likely be targeted.
Emergency declarations are designed to help provide emergency services to protect lives and property, and to lessen the threat of a catastrophe.
Death toll in Haiti continues to rise
The death toll in Haiti from Hurricane Matthew has risen to at least 108.
Haitian Interior Minister Francois Anick Joseph announced the figure in the capital on Thursday as authorities and aid workers work to gauge the extent of the deaths and damage in the impoverished country. Authorities have been struggling to reach people in the most remote areas including around the town of Jeremie and throughout the Grande Anse area.
In addition to Haiti being hit, there were also at least four people killed in the neighboring Dominican Republic, one in Colombia and one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Extreme sea levels considered top US threat
Storm experts are saying that the major threat to the Southeast US won't be Hurricane Matthew's pummeling winds, which newer buildings have been constructed to withstand. Rather, it will be water surge, with the deadly storm churned up by such a massive and powerful hurricane. As such, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are warning that large waves pushed by Hurricane Matthew could threaten lives and property hours before the Category 4 storm's eye nears the shore.
In simple terms, a storm surge is the abnormal rise of sea water. However, it is extremely complicated to predict, to the point where forecasters removed flooding references in a 2010 revision of the five-category system for describing the damage possible at various hurricane wind speeds.
Earlier this year, Hurricane Hermine was the first time forecasters experimented with storm surge watches and warnings for the public. The advisories, which are separate from watches and warnings about a storm's wind speeds, may become fully operational next year.
Since the expected water surge could threaten lives and property long before its eye nears shore, so the Miami-based National Hurricane Center has issued experimental storm surge watches and warnings for life-threatening flooding for some 500 miles of coastline from Boca Raton in South Florida all the way up to the area of Charleston, South Carolina. Matthew already has left more than 100 dead in the Caribbean.
Jamie Rhome is leader of the storm surge team at the hurricane center in Miami. Rhome says levels were up to a foot higher than normal as far north as Jacksonville on Thursday as a strengthening Matthew tore through the Bahamas toward Florida.
Rhome said parts of Florida, such as the Cape Canaveral area or communities along the St. Johns River, could see waters rise up to 9 feet above ground—a level well overhead for most adults. Rhome stressed that such levels are life-threatening because they are accompanied by "waves and currents and floating debris."
The hurricane center has issued storm surge watches and warnings for life-threatening flooding from Boca Raton in South Florida all the way up the coast north of Charleston, South Carolina.
A forecast map issued by the National Weather Service shows that as much as 14 inches of rain could fall in the Charleston and Georgetown areas between Thursday night and Sunday night as the hurricane passes at sea.
Storm surge and rainfall flooding have combined for three-quarters of US deaths from hurricanes, tropical storms and cyclones over the last half-century—including at least 1,500 deaths during Hurricane Katrina, according to the hurricane center.
These prototype watches and warnings are among forecasting changes made after Superstorm Sandy revealed how often the public failed to understand the flooding risks from tropical storms. Forecasters changed their vocabulary to explain how flooding can occur far from the coastline, and they now publish interactive graphics illustrating risks from the ocean as well as sounds, bays and lakes.
Water levels were rising as far north as Jacksonville on Thursday morning as a strengthening Matthew tore through the Bahamas toward Florida, said Jamie Rhome, leader of the hurricane center's storm surge team.
"The ocean's reaction to the hurricane extends well in front of it, and that catches people off guard," Rhome said. "At those levels it becomes life-threatening because it's not a gentle rising of the water. It comes with waves and currents and floating debris," Rhome said.
Hundreds of FL flight canceled, theme parks shutting down
Airlines are canceling hundreds of flights as Hurricane Matthew pelts the Florida coast with high winds and heavy rain. The Fort Lauderdale airport shut down on Thursday morning, and farther north the Orlando airport expected to do the same by nighttime.
Before 2 pm Eastern time, flight-tracking service FlightAware.com reported that 1,500 Thursday flights within the US had been scrapped, with the largest numbers at Fort Lauderdale and Miami. American Airlines, which has a major hub in Miami, was the hardest-hit carrier, followed by Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways.
FlightAware said airlines had already canceled 1,300 more flights scheduled for Friday. Delta Air Lines said cancellations were likely to spread to coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday.
Airlines often cancel flights before storms hit to prevent passengers from being stranded at airports and to keep their planes in position to recover after the bad weather passes.
With dangerous Hurricane Matthew approaching Florida's coastline, officials at Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld say they'll be shutting down until the storm passes.
Disney officials said on the company's website Thursday afternoon that theme parks, water parks, Disney Springs, the miniature golf course and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex would close at 5 pm The theme park will remain closed through Friday.
Alyson Lundell is director of public relations for Universal Orlando. She said in a statement that Universal Studios Florida, Universal's Islands of Adventure and Universal Citywalk would close at 5 pm and remain closed on Friday.
Earlier Thursday, SeaWorld announced on its website that the park would close at 2 pm and remain closed on Friday.