Hurricane Matthew killed at least 339 people in Haiti and destroyed tens of thousands of homes, local officials said on Thursday (Oct. 6). The tropical cyclone, carrying winds of up to 130 miles per hour (210 km per hour), is expected to make landfall in Florida early on Friday.
Already, nearly 100,000 Floridians are without power, and US president Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia. The storm is expected to cause billions of dollars worth of damage in the US, including $189 billion worth of homes by one estimate. Before it hit Haiti, Unicef said it could be the worst there in decades.
Towns in eastern Florida were reporting heavy winds just after 1am on Friday:
Photos of the devastation from Haiti showed roofs had been blown off of houses, and some neighborhoods entirely flattened or flooded:
