Hurricane Matthew damage in Florida. (Getty)
Hurricane Matthew passed through the Florida coast on Friday, but it stayed far enough offshore that the extensive damage people feared did not come to pass. There were still a lot of power outages and property lost, but it could have been much worse.
Here’s what you need to know.
Hurricane Matthew stayed far enough offshore that Florida didn’t suffer a direct hit and was spared much of the damage that many meteorologists were worried it would suffer, The New York Times reported. By Friday night, Matthew was downgraded to a Category 2, with winds at 110 mph. Many experts warned that Jacksonville might suffer the worst damage, but the eye of Matthew was about 40 miles offshore when it passed the city. All eyes shifted to Georgia and South Carolina, as they waited to see if those states would be spared extensive damage also.
At least five people in the U.S. have died from the storm. Three people died in St. Lucie County, one in Putnam County, and one in Volusia County. These included an older couple who ran a generator in a garage and died from carbon monoxide poisoning, a woman who suffered a heart attack, a woman who died when a tree fell on her after she went outside, and another woman who died when a tree fell on her camper, The New York Times reported.
Florida also suffered damage that resulted in power outages to nearly a million people. You can read more about Florida power outages in Heavy’s story here. Here is just one of the videos from that story:
20 people, including children, stuck in #StAugustine bed & breakfast. They say they’re getting worried, as the surge is about to come in.
The damage in Florida from Hurricane Matthew has not all been assessed yet, however. Storm surges caused extensive damage on the northeast Florida coast. You can watch some of the surges and flooding in the videos at this link. High winds caused trees to topple into homes. Although the damage was not as severe as expected, it was still harmful to many Florida residents. The exact amount of damage inflicted on Florida has not yet been determined.
