seeing people panic where i am, you know, in other areas that are taking a more direct hit sooner, perhaps they are, but here, people are just weathering the storm, and with cautious on the optimism, not super concerned, but not taking it lightly. >> talk about a hundred thousand peopleou you're in an inlet there off the coast, but have you got a sense whether or not that area has gone without some power? >> reporter: i can tell you that we are operating on a generator, and we have been taking hits to the power for hours now with it going out intermittenly. absolutely feeling that right now. right now, we're good. it's late and the area around me has lights, so we have not lost power, but, absolutely, you know, as you mentioned,

3 million people would be without power as the storm hits, so that's absolutely one of the big threats in addition to the cause of the power, the downed power lines, seeing f iing foot the power lines going down and look and sound like fourworks. that's the fireworks the storm is bringing at this point, leaving people without power and with a threat. you know, the governor yesterday night mentioning that the standing water and away from power lines. >> yeah. governor calling it a monster of a storm trying to warn as many people. lauren lyster live in the hurricane zone, lauren, thank you. >> one of the things lauren mentioned is the power going out. i mean, it moves much beyond this storm. dealing with the affects of this weeks and weeks and moments to come, so a big long road ahead for a lot of folks. >> also, as we mentioned at the

thousands of flights that have been cancelled across the country, so it's a nationwide impact and will impact tomorrow, ft. lauderdale, international airport took the rare step of completely shutting down for the first time since hurricane katrina in 2005 and not reopening until later this morning. miemgz and palm beach international plan to remain open, but commercial flights have temporarily come to a stop. >> and for those traveling by train, in the southeast and cruise ships rerouted to avoid the storm. among the other concerns for those in the storm zone is the possibility of price gouging. inflated prices in a time of great need. >> can you believe it? there are defenses in place to connect against gouging. joining us with the details, kendis, good morning. >> good morning. reports coming in that gouging is in effect. we know that florida, georgia,

states of e emergency, meaning price gouging laws, and rules are in effect. there's a key for those riding out thele storm, food, water, ie, gas, hotel rooms, and attorneys general and those southeastern states promised investigations and to those complaints that this is overcharging people during this emergency, in florida, there are hundreds of reports pouring in like gas stations raising water, a pack cost more than $10. hot lines open across the state, and business owners warned they could be hit with a fine or 30 days in jail for hiking up the price, and, ben, the laws are in effect for at least 15 days, mara, kendis, the states want to make sure they are not taken advantage of in the time of need. >> supplies people just don't

area, if it's going to take the hit predicted. >> which is why laws are in effect 15 days and aftermath of the storm. >> thank you. we'll check in throughout the show. when we come back, more breaking news coverage of hurricane matthew. >> heading to the storm zone and speak with the sheriff of one florida county urges everyone to take cover. and remember to follow us on social media throughout the morning as we continue coverage. you're watching "world news now." try mucinex 12-hour. only mucinex has a unique bi-layer tablet. the white layer releases immediately. mucinex is absorbed 60 percent faster than store brands. while the blue extended release layer lasts a full 12 hours.

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here's the latest satellite view of hurricane matthew as it is spinning off the coast of florida there. it is a monster storm. it is one the national weather service down there in florida calls extremely dangerous, and it is dumping several inches of rain all along the coastline there. millions of people in florida, georgia, and their homes and head inland. the exodus left behind thousands of boarded up homes and businesses. millions throughout the southeastern u.s. keep a close eye on matthew's path. >> here's a look at what we can expect over the next few hours, justin, good morning. >> kendis, mara, thanks. tracking a powerful hurricane. this is a major hurricane, very, very serious situation out there bearing down on the treasure

canaveral later on this morning where winds are topping well above hurricane force. notice the warnings stretching northbound into portions of georgia and more so we're tracking the eye off the coast, but notice an intense band beginning to move forwards the shoreline. within the band, winds of 80-90, perhaps 100 miles per hour. some of the strongest of the winds along the shoreline here later on tonight and also into friday, but potentially, over 100 miles per hour, and eventsly, bending north towards daytona in extremely heavy rainfall as well. we are concerned about flash flooding all the way north into the carolinas into the weekend. that path takes matthew to the northwest, bending north, and eventually out to sea later this week back to the south. >> all right, justin, thank you so much for that. now, despite the massive evacuations, the deadly storm is putting millions in jeopardy.

experiencing firsthand. >> caller: we've had hurricane conditions, just 70 hch 75 miles per hour winds, storm wobbled just a little bit to the east, and took us off of that bad track. we'll get heavy wind gusts, trees down, and such, but not near as bad as i thought. it's gusting good, but right now, we have the power, it's

area. >> caller: yeah. >> that high tide at the start or what? >> caller: it was the high tide starting to come in. we were working on a good squall at that point, and the water pushed up over the sea wall into the parking lot. it's a dangerous situation. the night is not over. we understand there are some

bands still looking to affect us, but we've been fortunate tonight. could have been a lot worse. >> amazing, though, you're in it and feeling the hurricane force winds, and realizing how much a bullet you guys dodged. >> caller: oh, my lord, yes. we had two big hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. they are powerful. they are dangerous. people that do not heed warnings to evacuate my deputies into a lot of danger. >> indeed. saying that a lot of people gambled and at this point, he believes they won that gamble, but it's not one that he likes that people take. >> problem is, if it gets too bad, you can't leave so you don't want to wait until it's too late, and we see the conditions already and the storm east not laned yet. >> winds at least category 1 force wind there, 75 miles per

matthew. next up, ginger z explains the most dangerous part of a hurricane, and it's not what you think. you're watching "world news now." "world news now" continues after this from our abc station. meatball on white! next! you want mustard on that or not! come on, come on. i haven't got all day here! it doesn't come with peppers! they're extra! hurry up.pay the lady! next! the chicken's fresh. i killed it myself. so that's what you want? next! while we're still young! you know you told me you wanted mustard. get outta here! time's up! back of the line! hey. excuse me. what! great sandwich. thanks. ?you didn't have to be so nice? get outta here. ?i would have liked you anyway? whistling a birthday song train whistling trumpet blows bell ringing ice chipping grunting buzzing chirping motor hums croaking dripping casting revving

fog horn elk call owl hoot wolf howl bell ringing whistling hurricane matthew is bringing strong winds and torrential rain, but while those effects are deadly, more die frhe >> our chief meteorologist explains what it is and why is it so dangerous? >> storm surge is water piling up along the shore ahead of and inside the hurricane. in the center as pressures fall, water levels rise, and all water piling up over the open ocean water. as hurricane closes in on land, the strong winds push that water

and inland, sometimes as high as 20 feet. say you're inside a home at the coast, this is what it looks like. the water approaching quickly and viciously. entering your home and climbing the walls, and in sandy, homes filled with water quickly reaching eight to nine feet inside the house. when this combines with high tide, the rapid rising water is high winds, but storm surge is twael the greatest threat to life and property from a hurricane. >> such important perspective because things can go wrong so quickly which is why officials urge people to get out while you can. >> yes. we make a big deal about the wind and understandable, but one of the things that many officials in florida reminded people is that you hide from the wind and run from the storm surge because that's the killer there. coming up, latest on the

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taking a look at satellite images of hurricane matthew turning off the coast of florida right now, estimated to be 125 miles southeast of cape canaveral, learning about states of emergency carolina declared one for the entire state, all 100 counties, more than 100 counties there, and they are now joining florida, georgia, and south carolina in declaring a state of emergency in anticipation of the storm. of course, as i mentioned, florida, one of the states declaring a state of emergency, and they are expected to be one of the hardest hit by this storm. take a look now at what some of our colleagues at the west palm beach station face as they

>> we're in jupiter, and we ran across this, why emergency officials warning everyone to stay off the roadways. debris. this is at the corner of u.s. 1 and indian town road. the lights here were still on so we saw the tree. if the lights were off, i don't know what could have happened. >> those rain bands you're talked without, we are in them right now. we are on jupiter beach road, the same area picking up on the mic, but what i wanted to show you was take a look, the rain that's starting to gather is being pushed by the winds in one direction. >> we were feeling those bands, still feeling the rain, the wind, the gusts. it's all happening here, but luckily not as bad as we probably will not get as much danger in this participant of

>> covering the storms is such an important job, but dangerous for those out there, outside in the storm. >> absolutely. you covered sandy. >> standing on a beach, and i can tell you, it's intense. you have a lot of respect for mother nature out there in the elements, and you do realize how dangerous it is from so many difficult avenues. one of the big things i was afraid was was flying debris, which is a concern for people as well. it's a source of injuries. >> absolutely, winds whipping up there in west palm beach, winds at a minimum. it is a dangerous situation for reporters, which is part of one of the things that we do is try to find a hotel balcony that has a little bit of covering and little bit space to block the wintd so you can cover and see the conditions, but not get injured, but, of course, important parts are so many people who are riding out these storms in their homes. >> yeah. we want everybody to heed the warnings.

>> breaking news this morning on "world news now", hurricane matthew bearing down on florida's east coast. the dangerous storm set to cause catastrophic destruction. the highly concentrated hurricane set to bring with it a massive of potentially deadly storm surge. furth u more evacuations underway for communities hoping for the best, but officials warning to expect the worst. >> on a lighter note, the storm is bad apparently when waffle house closed their doors. the 24-hour restaurant chain is famous for staying open even in the most severe weather. we have the latest on what fema dubbed the waffle house index. it's a real thing. it's friday, october 7th. >> from abc news, this is "world

>> good morning. i'm in for diane macedo. >> first, we start with breaking news in florida. florida is in the bull's eye right now of hurricane matthew. it is barrelling in, threatening to trigger catastrophic flooding. >> that killer storm whipping up winds of 130 miles per hour, its powerful outer bands pounding the southeastern coast overnight and millions under e evacuation orders bracing for up to 15 inches of rain and a storm surge as high as 1et power lines exploding, and 100,000 people have already lost electricity. >> and that situation, no doubt, will get worse in the overnight hours. i want to show how what the radar is looking like right now with matthew spinning off the coast, accepting powerful rain bands all the way across the state. this storm is huge. 300 miles width. we'll get the latest now from

a demon in the dark, barrelling into florida's atlantic coast. winds up to 130 miles per hour. >> unfortunately, this is going to kill people. >> reporter: 3 million people urged to evacuate, clogging major highways up and down the coast for miles. preparations for matthew's arrival going on for days. abc news is in the storm's path in west palm beach. >> we reached a safe location, but don't get me wrong, we are feeling powerful winds and rain area, but we hope not to be near the eye wall, that's going to be so dangerous when it comes ashore, if it does. that's what people need to stay away from. some 2.5 million people are expected to be without power. >> reporter: so far power lines going down along the coast. temperatures of thousands already without power. hurricane matthew is expected to continue up the coast, impacting jacksonville, georgia, before hitting charleston, south

matthew tore a vicious path in the caribbean, devastating haiti, where over a hundred people killed and thousands of homes destroyed. the destruction there still being tallied as the monster storm tore roof off houses, sending debris flying, and causing flooding. the impact zone on lockdown. close to 4,000 flights cancelled. even disney world closing down in orlando for on the only the fourth time in history until the storm is over later friday, abc news, new york. >> it's important to keep in mind how destructive the storm has been. the death toll in haiti steadily increasing. our hearts go out to them. >> absolutely. it's been more than a decade since a major storm like this hit florida. >> let's get the projected path of the storm. justin? >> kendis, mara, thanks, good

matthew remains very dangerous and powerful movement here to the north and northwest, and notice how it's starting to parallel the florida coastline. right at the treasure coast where we are starting to see the wind, gusting upwards 70 miles per hour, so we're on the brink of hurricane force wind gusts, and we'll see them here in the next couple hours. hurricane warnings stretching up the coastline, but impacts felt here over the inland areas as well. here's the latest. we're tracking the eye, but notice the outer eye wall, two eye walls here, one close to the eye, another further out, and it's this band here with winds of 80 to 90 miles per hour now rolling towards the coastline, and as it moves north, we're concerned of winds upward of 100 miles per hour, perhaps daytona beach, and extremely heavy flooding rains as well. kendis, mara back to you. >> you talked about haiti

toll from the hurricane for days, maybe weeks there. >> thursday night haitian officials put the number of dead at 283. the number is expected to rise once reports come in from isolated areas. u.n. peacekeepers are in haiti where most of the dead have been found, and crews are helping with food and clean water. back in the u.s., residentings of the carolinas and florida prepare. hundreds of thousands of people hit the roads and headed inland. >> people as far as north as virginia hope thl the storm's current track has it heading further out into the atlantic after passing south carolina, but let's turn now to one of the city's in the hurricane zone. >> abc's lauren lister is in florida with an update on conditions there, lauren, how are things looking now where you are? >> reporter: mara, the wind is

it howling, and that dock behind me is submerged. as i told you earlier, it was -- i was standing out there a few hours ago, and now it is completely underwater, and hours before that, it was well above the water, and storm surge is really one of the big concerns here along the coast of florida where i am, it's expected to be six to ten feet or more. residents here and many other places very fearful that means dangerous flooding for their homes. an update on the hurricane. we just learned what was a category 4 storm has now been downgraded to a category 3, but that means winds up to 120 miles per hour, extremely dangerous. the storm is called life threatening, a monster by the governor, and it is getting dangerously close to the coast of florida, barrelling this direction, that eye of the storm, just taunting coastal cities here as we experience the impact of matthew. >> that's good news about the downgrade, but as you noted,

what are you seeing in terms of e evacuations and how people heed the warnings? >> reporter: well, in florida, 1.5 million people were ordered to evacuate, and there have. reports that people stayed put to weather the storm when they've been told to leave, but my experience landing in orlando, being there, traveling to the coast, that people took it seriously. at the supermarkets, people stocked up on food, stocking up on water which was sold out, making sure they had supplies they needed to stay indoors, restaurants shut down earlier yesterday afternoon at 2:00 knowing that storm was approaching, and they had been told to hunker down. here along the coast, this area has not. ordered to evacuate, but just past this waterway and closer to the coast and the beach, that area has been evacuated, and plenty of the residents are here, and e i spoke to yesterday, and they were ready to weather the storm and lay their property to the mercy of matthew, and they were being

>> and, lauren, you are getting a firsthand look at what the -- not necessarily the storm surge, but, in essence, how much that water's rising in those areas since you've been there. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. so the storm surge, these waterways are connected to the ocean, so storm surge and concerns of tidal surge are absolutely an issue here. i should be clear about that. the high tides, of course, compounds the situation, and, yeah, we have seen this waterway behind us rise in just a short somewhere where i could stand to something totally submerged, and that's -- the residents i spoke to, that's the concern. what's it mean for flooding. >> definitely a concern that many people there are worry about. we're not going to get the true sense until daylight hours. it is a nighttime storm. lauren lyster in the hurricane zone, thank you. team coverage continues of

next, the rare closures ahead of the storm. stay with us. you're watching "world news now." "world news now" weather brought to you by united health care. "world news now" weather brought to you by united health care. approaching medicare eligibility? don't put off checking out your medicare options until 65. medicare only covers about eighty percent of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you. that's where aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company come in. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they could help save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. taking informed steps really makes a difference later. that's what it means to go long?.

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mucinex clear and cool. ah! what's this sudden cooooling thing happening? it's got a menthol burst. you can feel it right away. wow, that sort of blind-sided me. and it clears my terrible cold symptoms. ahh! this is awkward. new mucinex fast-max clear & cool. feel the menthol burst. and clear your worst cold symptoms. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. a live picture right now of miami beach, and you can see the conditions there are quite fine, but at one point, you know, miami was in the cross hairs of hurricane matthew. they ended up closing the airport for several hours as you know. this major population center has been spared, but neighbors to

>> in other parts of the state, we are seeing rain and high windsment the effect matthew's having across the hurricane zone is tremendous with the storm forcing some extremely rare closures. >> unusual ones. we are following that angle. joining us now with that, kenneth, good morning. >> good morning. yes, we reported this is a mop monster of a storm, but you know it's bad when certaibi businesses close up shop. one of those, disney world, the theme park known for being open 365 days a year closed yesterday evening as only the fourth time ever the park shut down. each time was due to hurricanes. the park will reopen later today. disney is the parent company of abc news and walt disney world. also in flord, the space coast, and it's kennedy space center closed for business and tours. nasa built large structures years ago to protect the precious space equipment from damage, but there's concerns about matthew's powerful winds.

at the space center ahead of a november launch. ironically, it's revolutionizing forecasting. you know the storm is bad when waffle house's put up a close sign. >> what? >> i don't know that i saw a closed sign on a waffle house. the 24-hour restaurant where you can get a waffle and greasy hash browns and smothered and covered for being open during the worst of storms. restaurants up and down i-95, especially in florida, are closed. it's so rare for waffle house to shut down, fema uses any closures of the restaurant as an indicator called a waffle house index. >> we're not making fun. this is a real thing.

sleet, snow, they are open. >> they ended up having to go to home depot just to buy letters for closed. >> they don't know how to put those letters up. >> i jest, but those are one of the things any time, any sort of disaster, weather situation, people rely on the waffle house, and his wife, fema, takes it seriously. >> they do. for the first responders, for fema, the federal folks on the ground there, they go there for the waffle house is closed, they are in trouble. >> sounds like we're making a joke, but it is a serious thing. >> yeah. all right. >> thanks, guys. >> appreciate it. when we come back, one of the guys who knows this hurricane matthew best. >> a chat with the national hurricane center straight ahead. we'll be right back. "world news now" continues after this from our abc stations.

so now the question is, what can we expect from matthew in the hours and definitely days to come? >> joining us now with some answers is hurricane specialist at the national hurricane center, john, good morning. >> caller: good morning. >> so we just heard from a correspondent in the feel the storm weakened a bit. what can you tell us about the strength of the storm?

bit. that's the message. winds impressive at 120 miles per hour, and the system now is getting very close to the coastline of east central florida, about due east of the beach for the time being. >> still, as a category 3 storm, it's still a powerful storm, a monster of a storm. i believe it's as wide as 300 miles across, so it covers a lot of space causing a lot of damage. >> caller: absolutely, and, you know, more importantly than its size is its actual track. i mean, many systems, and that's the tricky part, systems move into a coastline and weaken. matthew's not doing that. rather, it's riding the coastline, moving and affecting a lot of real estate along florida's east coast and then points north from there during the next few days. >> well, when you talk about the tracks, storms can be unpredictable. is there a chance this storm could move in a way that does

>> caller: it could. right now, the center of the system's about 50 miles offshore, which is really not very far, but at the time, it's actually moving parallel to the coastline, so there's a chance the core of the system, or the center, may stay just offshore which could be significant because the strongest winds are confined to an area relatively close to the center in the region called the eye wall, so it's very critical each for the wind purposes and potential wind damage is if that ceer or not. it's very difficult to say if it will or not, but for the time being, it is inching closer to the coast, and we are seeing the winds pick up along florida's east coast, and they are gusting hurricane force this morning. >> this is one of the weirdest tracks i've seen for a hurricane.

covering these since 2009 there at the national hurricane center, and it almost seems as if it's going to do another lop, a loop-de-loop you would say and circle inlaptd. what are you thinking? >> caller: true. the projected track is anomalous. what's causing that is in this case, in matthew, it's moving northward now around a large scale ridge, but it's not capture by a cold front or trough so it's allowed to linger and loop back and very much back in the same position that it is now in five or six days. that unusual, but not we have had other systems do those loops, but, yes, it's not the normal or typical track you see for the tropical systems. >> and assuming it stays on the track it's on now, you know, some parts of florida already seeing bad weather. how long can people in the affected areas expect to see high winds and heavy rain until things clear up and look towards recovery and cleaning up the

>> caller: well, things are clearing out for southeast florida. the worst is over there. for central florida, they'll continue throughout the morning hours, and then start to improve later on in the day, and then for the northeast portion of the state, the conditions will be at their worst late this afternoon and through the evening hours, so they will gradually improve from south to north, and some of the severe conditions will last several hours. remember when we talk about package of hazards. it's not just about the winds, which, again, is critical to see if the eye comes ashore or not, but what we have more confidence in is the heavy rains, 6-12 inches on florida's east coast, and the storm surge, which is usually the deadliest hazard where we expect 7-11 feet. >> john, we thank you for the perspective, sorry to interrupt you, we are going to break, but the national hurricane center,

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? ? well, it has been quite a week. the southeast is bracing for a hurricane, and the entire country is bracing for the presidential election that's a month away. >> celebrities don't always live fairy tale lives, and a great chapter for a sports caster. it's the friday rewind. >> translator: everything in my house is wet. i lost everything. the water took it. >> a storm surge of 5-9, not inches, but feet. if you're watching from an evacuation zone, you need to leave now. this is life and death. >> we want you to evacuate. we do not want you to stay. >> if you get an evacuation order, just remember that you can always rebuild, you can always repair property, but you

>> i have legally used the tax laws to my benefit, and to the benefit of my company, my investors, and my employees. i mean, honestly, i have brilliantly -- i have brilliantly used those laws. >> here's my question, what kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year. >> no one who's shown more genius in maneuvering the tax code and rightfully using the laws to do that. >> not paying taxes for years share does not make you smarter than the rest of us. >> i can't imagine how pence defends the selfish driven style of donald trump. >> senator r you and hillary clinton know about an insult driven campaign. it really is remarkable. >> kim kardashian found gagged, held at gun point, begging for her life. >> sorry, i have an emergency,

>> at first, i didn't know what was going to happen. i was scared. what it does is just stops everything in your life when you get a diagnosis of cancer. you can't plan for a movie, because you know don't what's going to happen. >> you and i have been friends for a long time, but i know in my heart that i've always needed you more than you've ever needed me, and i'll miss our time together, more than i can say. >> and dodger fans are missing vin indeed, especially now that they are in the playoffs as well. >> yeah. sports. >> on sports. >> i'm completely ignorant of or reveal myself being a fool in that realm. a presidential campaign, the weather -- >> and debate on sunday. >> absolutely. don't miss our updates, facebook at wnnfans.com. this is abc's "world news

good morning. i'm mara in for diane macedo. >> i'm kendis gibson following breaking news on "world news now" this morning. seaside cities feeling triple digit winds and heavy rains. we are live in the hurricane zone. people in the georgia and carolinas prepare for evacuating. coastal areas, matthew is expected to hug states over the weekend before veering out to sea. overnight, the governor of north carolina declaring a state of emergency in all 100 coupes. >> the airlines, amtrak and greyhound cancelled trips into and out of the hurricane zone for today, that could cause shortages and affect travel in other parts of the country. a brutal weekend. >> both candidates cancelled events, closed offices, and

and holding back on ads tweeting out words of support to those in the storm zone. those are the top stories on this friday, october 7th. from abc news, this is "world news now." >> you see that image of the storm, and you really get a sense of how it is barrelling down on florida right now. meantime, i want to show you the satellite/radar of the storm, and it's m winds continuing the devastating march up the atlantic coast. >> here's a look at lake worth, just south of west palm beach, see the images in just a moment, last night there, we don't have the images ready yet, but officials warned residents it was time to take cover. >> yeah. conditions much the same in nearby deerfield beach. the region bracing for what's

>> reporter: good morning. the storm is intensifying out here. we are feeling the impact of matthew with the winds and rain and debris is starting to hit me in the face. tens of thousands are facing outages, power outages in florida, and now i can inform you it appears so are we. these lights are from a generator powering our shot, but what you can't see is that hotel that's in front of me, and it is dark, guys. we're in the dark. meantime, storm surge here is the big concern. it's expected to be six to ten feet on the coast, beyond this waterway, but this waterway, too, you can see it's rising. that dock is well underwater which was, a few hours ago, a place where i was standing, and now you can see the sign, you can only read half because it's underwater.

and that's one damaging aspect of the storm. >> you're not far from the ocean there. i know a lot of people have been told to e evacuate. did you get a sense of people evacuating the zone where you are? >> reporter: so where i am, there's no orders of evacuations specifically. this is an area where people closer to the beach that were evacuated came to to weather the storm, if you can believe it, great place to weather a storm,u have been reports of people choosing not to leave and taking their own risks, protecting their property, but many of the people i spoken to did leave and are playing it safe, and if the hordes of people stocking up on groceries and water, even inland in orlando is any indication, people have been taking this very seriously. >> live for us from the hurricane zone there in florida, lauren, thank you so much for that. stay safe as you continue to cover this important story.

in the county she's in, and, you know, the florida power officials say they expect up to 2 million people might be without power by the time this is over with. >> this is a problem people will be dealing with for weeks and weeks to come still. millions in the southeastern u.s. are watching matthew's path. >> accuweather joining us with a look at what to expect in the next few hours. what are you seeing? >> kendis, mara, thanks, good mornin y winds coming down a little bit here, but it's still a major, powerful hurricane. a category 3. winds up to 120, movement north and west at 14 miles per hour, now roughly 80 miles southeast of cape canaveral where we expect hurricane force wind speeds more so later on this morning. the warnings up and down the coast of florida, more so north and west of palm beach and intense thunderstorms here on the western eye wall where winds could be damaging.

miles per hour along the 95 corridor, especially out to the immediate shore, heavy rainfall expected as well. notice the amounts exceeding a foot over the coastal carolinas and the newly revised track takes us off to the north and to sea as a category 3 weakening to a category 2 and then 1 over the weekend. kendis, mara, back to you. >> all right, thanks to justin at accuweather. earlier we spoke to bill johnson, director of emergency florida and asked what was going on where he is. >> caller: we're looking at a storm that's about 40 miles offshore right now. we're seeing some rain bands and we're getting heavy rain right now. we have reports of 41,000 people with -- over 41,000 people with power outages across the county, and i have 7500 people in shelters, 13 shelters open.

continues to receive calls throughout the night, so we're still in full emergency response mode. >> what happens for you guys overnight? >> caller: it's going to be a long night, especially for those people without power, and when the winds die down and we're able to get out on the road, we will send out our damage responders will be able to get back out and be able to respond to and do their work. we'll be able to have a better picture as to exactly what's beginning on and see, really fully what the damages are. >> you said evacuate inland within the county.

>> caller: i e got reports people put the shudders up, and that's what we wanted to see, though, i'm very pleased at the response from our community. >> one of the great things we're hearing from our reporters in the field, from officials like this, is people really are heeding the warnings to e e skrak wait to get out, and part of that is due to the fact that officials have been so strong about how dangerous this storm is, how important it is to leave, and, thankfully, people are heeding that p. >> this is a difficult one for officials. give them a break on this. at one point, you'll recall, the track for the storm had it going all the way up to new york and possibly new england, and it's shifted quite a bit in the last few days, and, in fact, the path to shifting focus to florida really changed just within the 48-72 hours. >> much better to error on the side of caution than not tell people to leave, they're stuck. once it hits, it's too late to get out.

people in its path, disrupting transportation across the country already, talking about amtrak and greyhound busses. >> airlines cancelled 1800 flights nationwide. >> just today. >> meaning planes may not be available for trips in other parts of the country. we have more now on that from eva pilgrim. >> reporter: the hurricane grinding air travel to a halt causing a ripple effect throughh >> we're complacent, and this is not turning. >> the one day we planned to leave, there's a hurricane. >> reporter: mid-morning, the ft. lauderdale airport shut down since katrina 11 years ago, a rare move. at 1:00 p.m., all flights in and out of miami stopped. orlando international away from the coast stopped commercial flights, nearly 4,000 flights cancelled over two days. time lapse radar showing the busy florida skies clearing out. >> our original flight was cancelled. >> reporter: visiting from

another way out. >> we are actually going to clearwater and then driving to the tampa airport tomorrow to fly out. >> reporter: meanwhile in jacksonville, the final flights taking off, but the ticket counters are mostly empty. jacksonville airport officials do not plan to close the airport even if there's no flights to ensure stranded travelers have a place to stay. eva pill garage, jacksonville, florida. >> wednesday and saturday, 3700 flights cancelled so far with more to come, no doubt. it's impacting the race for the white house as well, forcing both candidates to cancel events and close offices in the critical swing state of florida. >> both pulling punches on tv ads until the storm is over, and tweeting about the storm while they buckle down for their next debate. >> reporter: in battleground

campaign offices for once both on the same page. clinton tweeting, i urge everyone to follow emergency instructions and evacuate if you're told to. trump warning, if your home is in the path of the hurricane and you're advised to leave, you need to do so right now. the storm comes with both candidates deep in debate prep. trump streaming video of the first showdown >> perpetuated a false claim. >> it involves going after then online. then he called her ms. housekeeping. >> reporter: trump being told he doesn't always have to get the last word in. >> donald supported the invasion of iraq. >> wrong. >> proved over and over again. >> wrong. >> reporter: campaign accused clinton of using canned lies.

to get out five zingers rehearsed for a number of days. >> reporter: now working on their own zingers for trump to deliver them, and trump is test driving the town hall format in new hampshire of the his coach, new jersey governor chris christie. hillary clinton has more experience fielding questions in town halls. >> what are you going to do about bullying? >> reporter: moments like that, personal connection with voters. but clinton had a rough outing in a recent tv town hall, deep in debate prep, and the team predicts she'll face a less testy trump sunday night. both campaigns with an eye on matthew, the clinton campaign hoping they change the voter registration deadline in florida because the cutoff is next tuesday, so far, no word if that's going to happen abc news, new york. we should point out the

louis is now only two days away. >> it's co-moderated by our own abc news colleague martha raddatz at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on abc. >> monday morning, live team coverage of the debate. back to the top story for today, hurricane matthew hammering florida right now, we're going to check in with the storm zone and see how the governors of south carolina and north carolina and florida are reacting.

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ahh...still sick, huh? i'll take it from here. i'm good. i just took new mucinex clear and cool. ah! what's this sudden cooooling thing happening? it's got a menthol burst. you can feel it right away. wow, that sort of blind-sided me. and it clears my terrible cold symptoms. ahh! new mucinex fast-max clear & cool. feel the menthol burst. and clear your worst cold symptoms. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. looking at satellite images here the hurricane matthew churning off the coast of florida, and, of course, lots of preparations underway in anticipation of that storm making land fall, evacuations

storm's path to get out. >> and you just look at that image and realize how huge the storm is. it's a monster storm. the eye wall is very, very big. they filed this from palm beach gardens, good morning. >> reporter: we're in a safe location, but no mistake about it, we're getting powerful wind and rain. we don't want to be anywhere near that dangerous eye wall, what officials are trying to keep peo 120 miles per hour winds. it's too dangerous. right now in florida, we're looking at the potential of having 2.5 million people without any power at all, and that's an extremely huge amount of people without power, so no doubt, a serious, serious concern where that eye wall actually ends up, that is going to be the biggest question and where the most damage could possibly be.

florida. >> we can see there in that piece the downed trees, downed power lines. i mean, there's so much damage a storm like this does. >> absolutely. i spoke with him, texting back and forth with each other, and they hunkered down overnight because worried of the conditions, and to think they didn't get the category 3 hurricane conditions there in palm beach gardens, and it was still rough enough to be out there on the roads, and part of the reason, the dangerous things you see there, that's one of the biggest concerns for mfi in these hurricane zones. >> losing power, and, of course, debris. >> downed lines. >> the storm surge, a very dangerous situation. people are mindful of that and are evacuating as they are told to. >> let's hope. coming up, more hurricane coverage including a news anchor's emotional plea. we'll be right back. "world news now" continues after this from our abc stations.

back with the latest on hurricane matthew, and for days leading up to the moment, governor in the state's hurricane path urged residents to get out. >> unfortunately, this is going to kill people. >> they should already be evacuating. we want that to happen. >> time is running out. leave, there's no excuses. roads are open. you should get out. >> storm surges are going to go much further inland than people realize, and that's a lot of water all at once.

so that hopefully we'll come through this having learned lessons, but hopefully not having to repeat those lessons in the very near future. >> there's no excuses. you need to leave. evacuate, e evacuate, evacuate. are you willing to take a chance to risk your life? are you willing to take a gamble? that's what you're doing. if you're reluctant to e evacuate, think of all the people this storm already killed. you and your family could be among these numbers if you don't take this seriously. >> now, as florida's governor urges 1.5 million to evacuate, news stations work overtime to get the word out. >> appealing from one veteran news anchor was so emotional and passion, we wanted to share it with you. it's viral. >> i want to talk to you people for a minute, not as tom the

years, you and i, it's time to take precautions and protect yourself. this is not going to be like anything we've seen before. think of katrina, what hugo did, think of baton rouge, we're in for a terrible, terrible experience, so, please, do whatever's necessary to protect yourself and your family, air on the side of caution. if you're in an evacuation zone, go west, go north, get out of here. >> a lot of people saying those same words. >> such an passioned plea. >> yes. next, how the storm sparked a twitter war. >> yes.

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a live picture here from jacksonville, florida in these early morning hours, and you can see things are relatively calm. that area right now getting some of the outer bands of hurricane matthew. the storm is so huge it really spans the entire coast of florida at this hour. we'll keep an eye on it. see, look at that. 300 miles of coast and the outer moving on in today's day in age, something like hurricane matthew just invades social media. >> that can be both good on bad, and here with some social media highlights is abc's kenneth. >> good morning. yes, other than us, social media is the place to go as we find out how matthew's impacting the east coast. nearly 4,000 flights cancelled, and this is the result. take a look that. airports look like ghost towns. southwest airlines tweeted

that place is typically busy at all hours people going to the theme parks, but no one there this morning as you can see. also on twitter, celebrities, actress reese witherspoon tweeted my prayers go out to all those affected by hurricane matthew. minaj sent out love to all in the storm, and josh grobin said, hang in there, floridians. we're all saying that this morning. but this one here, i'm filing this under bizarre hurricane news. this week vanilla ice was booted off with "dancing with the stars" as you saw here on abc, but now not just hunkering down in south florida in the storm, but having a rap battle, guys with florida democrats on twitter. the ice man tweeted out he's riding out the storm from his home in palm beach promising updates for his followers. the democratic party responded warning people to stop, collaborate, and listen.

vanilla ice and get out of the evacuation zones. i took creative license. now that he's off the dance floor, he's been live tweeting as matthew turns north. he'll likely have a lot of work after the storm. he's the host of "vanilla ice project" focused on renovating home in the palm beach area. >> it's sad the democrat, party of florida, needs to tell people not to listen to vanilla ice? you'd think that was a given. you don't take a storm advice from him. >> it's not vanilla rain. it's ice. >> how far he's fallen. a rap battle with a political party. >> it is a serious situation.

making news in america this morning, breaking right now, hurricane matthew marching up florida's coast. >> it's here. it's absolutely here and it is a monster. overnight, pounding rain, 120-mile-per-hour winds. and the >> this morning our team in the storm zone. >> the storm surge is where i am on the coast of florida, expected to be six to ten feet or more. >> we're still getting that powerful wind and rain. >> a steady stream of people fleeing the coast and grocery store supplies running low. >> i saw two guys fighting at a gas station yesterday. actually throwing punches. >> we're tracking the storm's