{"id":13255,"date":"2016-10-07T09:50:41","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T09:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=13255"},"modified":"2016-10-07T09:50:41","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T09:50:41","slug":"hurricane-matthew-now-a-category-3-storm-approaches-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/hurricane-matthew-now-a-category-3-storm-approaches-florida.html","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane Matthew, now a Category 3 storm, approaches Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Hurricane Matthew, now a Category 3 storm, approaches Florida; emergencies declared in three states<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\"><strong>Hurricane Matthew, now a Category 3 storm, approaches Florida; emergencies declared in three states<\/strong> : JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The strongest storm system to threaten the United States in a decade roared toward Florida on Thursday, forcing thousands from their homes and prompting dire warnings from forecasters and public officials alike.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Early Friday, the storm weakened to a Category 3 hurricane, but still packed dangerous 120 mph winds. As 5 a.m. approached, the western edge of the hurricane\u2019s eyewall was about 40 miles from Cape Canaveral. The hurricane was moving at a pace of 13 mph.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/c\/embed\/d43ab180-8c4a-11e6-8cdc-4fbb1973b506\" width=\"480\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Floridians hunkered down Thursday as pelting rain and punishing wind began to pummel the state, the first sting of a deadly hurricane expected to grind its way up the coast overnight and through most of the day Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Gov. Rick Scott (R) repeatedly pleaded with residents to take the storm seriously, urging the 1.5 million Floridians in evacuation zones to leave and describing Hurricane Matthew in increasingly blunt terms as he tried to describe the peril.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cThis is serious,\u201d Scott said during one of his briefings Thursday. \u201cThis storm will kill you. Time is running out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/c\/embed\/2591f0f6-8bca-11e6-8cdc-4fbb1973b506\" width=\"480\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Matthew tore through Haiti this week and caused nearly 300 deaths just in the southern part of that country, officials said, before pushing across the Bahamas and threatening to strafe a stretch of the East Coast that runs from South Florida to North Carolina.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Even as the storm continued its unceasing approach, there were measures of good news Thursday. Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the most populous in Florida, both appeared likely to avoid the brunt of the storm. The National Weather Service on Thursday night downgraded the hurricane warning in Broward to a tropical storm warning. Even so, the knocked out power to thousands of homes in the area.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">As Matthew approached, life\u2019s normal routines across the southeastern coast gave way to the bedlam of a looming storm. Emergencies were declared, evacuations ordered, schools closed, scores of flights grounded and college football games canceled or postponed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Authorities stressed the dangers of the storm, while the National Hurricane Center issued a series of foreboding bulletins warning of \u201cpotentially disastrous impacts for Florida\u201d and \u201clife-threatening\u201d flooding over the coming days in that state as well as Georgia and the Carolinas. The National Weather Service warned that the gusting winds could leave some places \u201cuninhabitable for weeks or months.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Late Thursday, it had surged to a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. The National Hurricane Center forecast said the storm could potentially remain just offshore as it moves alongside Florida\u2019s coastline, but added that Matthew was still \u201clikely to produce devastating impacts from storm surge, extreme winds, and heavy rains\u201d along the state\u2019s eastern coast.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">As rain began to fall in Florida, all eyes looked east as the unprecedented storm slowly approached. Hurricane conditions could extend into Georgia and South Carolina by Saturday, the National Hurricane Center warned.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13256\" src=\"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Hurricane-Matthew-Image.jpg\" alt=\"Hurricane Matthew Image\" width=\"596\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Hurricane-Matthew-Image.jpg 596w, https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Hurricane-Matthew-Image-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Hurricane-Matthew-Image-298x300.jpg 298w, https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Hurricane-Matthew-Image-300x302.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Hurricane-Matthew-Image-180x180.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Hurricane-Matthew-Image-140x140.jpg 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 596px) 100vw, 596px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">More than 2.5 million people were under evacuation orders from Florida to South Carolina, most of them in Florida, where the state opened dozens of shelters to house them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">President Obama signed emergency declarations for Florida, South Carolina and, late Thursday, Georgia, ordering federal aid and allowing federal authorities to coordinate disaster relief efforts in those states.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Scott had already declared a state of emergency in Florida, as have his counterparts in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Obama spoke by telephone with all four governors Thursday to discuss preparations for the storm, saying he is committed to providing the federal resources needed to respond, the White House said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Across the southeast, waves of schools shuttered their campuses and closed government offices. Colleges from Florida International University in Miami and the University of Central Florida in Orlando canceled classes, as did schools as far north as the University of South Carolina and the College of Charleston.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">The University of Florida called off its game against Louisiana State on Saturday, and Central Florida postponed a scheduled football game against Tulane. South Carolina pushed back its home game against Georgia by a day, bumping it to Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Airlines canceled more than 2,800 flights set to travel through Florida\u2019s airports on Thursday and Friday, according to FlightAware.com. Even mainstays of Florida life were impacted: Walt Disney World said it would close early on Thursday and remain closed Friday, as did SeaWorld in Orlando and Universal\u2019s parks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13257\" src=\"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Floridians-Homes.jpg\" alt=\"Floridians Homes\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Floridians-Homes.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Floridians-Homes-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Floridians-Homes-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Floridians either fled their homes or huddled with supplies after making the customary last-minute trips to Publix for bottled water, bread and peanut butter. In some cases, people headed inland or to safer ground with friends or family, while others planned to have hurricane parties to pass the hours spent locked down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Not long before midnight Thursday, with the first impacts of Matthew being felt in the state, Scott\u2019s office said that more than 95,000 people had lost power due to the storm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">In Volusia County along Florida\u2019s central Atlantic coastline, more than 2,000 residents sought refuge in schools. Dozens of residents outside Hinson Middle School in Daytona Beach were turned away when it had filled to capacity by mid-morning and were referred to others in the area.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cThis isn\u2019t Katrina,\u201d Garry Winterrowd of Daytona Beach said. \u201cThey are treating us well here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">For Michelle Adoga, a 16-year-old college student from Nigeria, the storm marked her first experience with a hurricane. With her family across the globe, Adoga reclined on a table in the school\u2019s cafeteria listening to music on her cellphone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cWe don\u2019t have hurricanes in Nigeria,\u201d Adoga said. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know what a hurricane was until yesterday.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/c\/embed\/a80304c4-8c0d-11e6-8cdc-4fbb1973b506\" width=\"480\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Scott said Thursday he had activated more than 3,500 Florida National Guard members, but he told residents not to view them as an escape valve for anyone who decides not to evacuate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cWe should not be putting people\u2019s lives at risk because you made the foolish decision not to evacuate,\u201d he said during a briefing Thursday afternoon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Interstate 95 through northern Florida appeared largely abandoned during the afternoon rush hour. Drivers heading away from Jacksonville, the south\u2019s most populous city, heeded warnings from Scott and other officials that they had heard before.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to leave, but it is starting to look bad,\u201d said Elaine Green, 68, a retired registered nurse, at a rest stop south of Jacksonville, where she lives near the beach. \u201cThis could be like all the other times. They always say evacuate, evacuate. \u2026 If it bad as they say, then, okay, I will be glad I left.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">In Jacksonville\u2019s Riverside-Avondale neighborhood, west of downtown, residents talked over whether to leave with their neighbors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cI\u2019m getting the hell out of here,\u201d said a tall, pony-tailed man stuffing loose clothes and towels and blankets into his Chevy SUV. \u201cI\u2019m packing up my dog and getting out of here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Forecasters warned of broad dangers posed by what they called a \u201clife-threatening\u201d storm, the first major hurricane to hit the United States since Wilma in 2005. Last month, Hurricane Hermine had slammed into Florida\u2019s Gulf Coast before it was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Before the storm made it to Florida, the Bahamas took a punishing blow on Thursday after a slight wobble in the track kept Matthew\u2019s strong inner core among the islands longer than expected. Matthew blasted Nassau with extreme wind gusts of at least 100 mph that toppled palm trees and ripped the roofs off homes. The wind was so strong that the country\u2019s official weather stations went offline during the peak of the storm, making direct observations nearly impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">The hurricane appears to be without comparison in modern Florida history for eastern and central Florida, and could lead to multi-billion dollar damages across the state, according to the Capital Weather Gang.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Florida Power and Light, a state\u2019s utility, warned that up to 2.5 million people could lose power, and warned that some could face \u201cextended outages as we rebuild parts of the grid.\u201d The National Weather Service warned that gusting winds in parts of the state\u2019s eastern coast could lead to structural damage to numerous homes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">As people flooded the roads to get out of town, air travel was severely restricted by the looming storm. American Airlines canceled flights Thursday through the three South Florida airports and called off travel through Orlando after 5:30 p.m. Airlines announced waivers letting travelers change flights without paying any penalty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national\/hurricane-matthew-takes-aim-at-florida-southeast-us\/2016\/10\/06\/c337c624-8c0a-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_gallery.html?_template=gallery-embed\" width=\"480\" height=\"700\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">At the Jacksonville airport on Thursday, Arnold Paredes spent hours devising a way to get to Panama after his connection through Miami was canceled and his attempts at booking another flight were frustrated by the storm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cWe planned this trip for a year,\u201d said Arnold, 42, while his wife, who said she had given up before they left their home this morning, flipped through a magazine. \u201cVacation, to get away from everything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">He planned to rent a car and head inland to find an open airport. \u201cI am not ready to give up,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Further south in coastal Broward County, a crowd kept swimming and surfing in the churning waters off Fort Lauderdale\u2019s beaches.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">In coastal Broward County, winds peaked at nearly 60 miles per hour Thursday afternoon, according to local reports. The entire county remained under a voluntary evacuation advisory as Florida\u2019s east coast braced for Hurricane Matthew\u2019s impact. That didn\u2019t stop a crowd of unapologetic enthusiasts from swimming and surfing in the churning waters of Fort Lauderdale\u2019s beaches.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cHurricanes are the only time we get waves,\u201d said Gia Tsavalos, 34, who lives west of Delray Beach. Tsavalos was riding the waves and ignoring officials\u2019 safety warnings in Fort Lauderdale after being chased off a beach in nearby Hollywood by a lifeguard patrol.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Near the beach, Dwayne Bennett, 40, of Tamarac, brought his children \u2014 Amaya, 5, and Jayden, 11 \u2014 to see the natural spectacle. \u201cWe were bored at home,\u201d said Bennett, who declined the requests from his children to go swimming.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Just across the street, patrons in flip-flops and undershirts gathered at the Elbo Room, a popular bar. Shirtless young men rode their bikes around town and, just west of the beach, fishermen sheathed in bright yellow raincoats cast their fishing lines into canals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cIt\u2019s not that we don\u2019t respect the storm. We do,\u201d said Buddy Mountcastle, 48, of Margate. \u201cMy home is all boarded up. We\u2019re protected.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">While Florida prepared for the country\u2019s first brush with Matthew, other states were getting ready for the storm to rake across their communities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) followed the evacuations of Charleston and Beaufort counties \u2014 home to more than half a million people \u2014 with more evacuation orders along some of the state\u2019s coastal areas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Authorities in South Carolina also said voters there would extend deadlines for voter registration, a move that came amid questions about how the storm would impact the upcoming presidential election. Scott said Thursday that he would not extend voting registration due to the storm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal (R) announced mandatory evacuations in six of the state\u2019s coastal counties, a stretch east of Interstate 95 with more than 530,000 residents. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said he remained \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about the hurricane\u2019s projected impact on his state, but said residents were not in the clear yet and asked them to keep monitoring the storm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/c\/embed\/391629f6-8bdb-11e6-8cdc-4fbb1973b506\" width=\"480\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">On Wednesday, Obama had scrapped two planned events in Florida on Wednesday and visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u2019s headquarters in Washington for a hurricane briefing instead. He urged residents to be ready and pay attention to warnings from authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cEven if you don\u2019t get the full force of the hurricane, we are still going to be seeing tropical force winds, the potential for a storm surge, and all of that could have a devastating effect,\u201d he said after the briefing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Floridians readying for the storm are a mix of veterans who have been through this before and those unaccustomed to the routines after the state has seen an influx of new residents in the years since Wilma.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">At a Home Depot near Stirling Road in Hollywood, two employees secured seven sturdy pieces of plywood to the roof of black Hyundai sedan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cIt took us about three hours to get in and out,\u201d Alex Ozenaski said outside a Home Depot in Hollywood while two employees secured plywood to the roof of his black Hyundai. \u201cWe had just moved to South Florida when Hurricane Wilma hit in 2005. We weren\u2019t prepared. This time, we are almost prepared.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/c\/embed\/5b1d193e-8ba3-11e6-8cdc-4fbb1973b506\" width=\"480\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #000000;\"><strong>Source<\/strong>:https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-nation\/wp\/2016\/10\/06\/hurricane-matthew-intensifies-as-florida-governor-orders-1-5-million-to-evacuate\/?utm_term=.207536581187<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/hurricane-matthew-now-a-category-3-storm-approaches-florida.html\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"social\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #ffffff !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 630px !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hurricane Matthew, now a Category 3 storm, approaches Florida; emergencies declared in three states Hurricane Matthew, now a Category 3 storm, approaches Florida; emergencies declared in three states : JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The strongest storm system to threaten the United States in a decade roared toward Florida on Thursday, forcing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5470],"tags":[8223,7995,8219,8217,8218,8220,8222,8221],"class_list":["post-13255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-disney-world","tag-hurricane-matthew","tag-hurricane-matthew-bahamas","tag-hurricane-matthew-florida","tag-hurricane-matthew-forecast","tag-hurricane-matthew-georgia","tag-hurricane-matthew-north-carolina","tag-hurricane-matthew-south-carolina"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}