gio, thank you. country, more than 1,000 flights already canceled. and tonight, in south carolina, in fact, they have reversed the direction of several lanes on some highways there to actually help families get out and quickly. meteorologist rob marciano is along i-26 in north charleston tonight. >> reporter: tonight, evacuations under way. along the south carolina coast, more than a quarter million people told to get out immediately. that number could grow as the storm gets closer. >> we want you to evacuate. we do not want you to stay. >> reporter: residents boarding up and sandbagging, gassing up and now heading for safer ground. for those without cars, a fleet of buses offering a ride for people like samira. >> we decided to leave. >> reporter: traffic this morning, already bumper to bumper on interstate 26. the main artery out of charleston. then, this afternoon, the highway patrol blocking eastbound traffic. >> reporter: soon making the major interstate a one-way highway, helping more people get out faster. this map showing the state's evacuati

but first, abc's gio benitez in south florida. >> reporter: tonight in florida, time is running out. the southeast preparing for a direct hit from hurricane matthew. >> when you look at this storm as it goes along the east coast, we're going to have to prepare every county. so, it could be the biggest evacuation ever. >> reporter: matthew, potentially the worst storm to hit the sunshine state in over a decade. now strengthening over open water, winds over 120 miles an hour. wreaking havoc across the making a second landfall overnight in eastern cuba, leveling the town of baracoa. officials in haiti still trying to assess the damage. five deaths reported so far. but the main bridge that connects to the hard-hit south is washed out. officials now postponing sunday's presidential election indefinitely. our lindsey davis is on the ground. >> people are worried about the potential for landslides and even possibly cholera. it's difficult to know the full island, because in some of the areas most impacted by hurricane matthew, communication has been cut off. >> reporter: matthew now barreli

all right, gio benitez in florida for us. gio, thank you. let's get right to chief meteorologist ginger zee. where is this right now and where is it headed? >> reporter: hurricane matthew is right there on the satellite image, just north of the eastern tip of cuba. miles per hour. we have hurricane warnings for all the bahamas. a hurricane watch that goes from central florida, right there to miami, and the tropical storm watch into the northern keys. david, i want to time this out for you. east of nassau it goes by 12:00 a.m. thursday. then, by thursday noon, florida starts to see those outer bands make it onto and from hurricane matthew. >> so, thursday at noon, potentially affecting florida. now take us through the timing hour by hour up the east coast. >> reporter: right. so, as this storm parallels, it talking 4 to 3, category. look at the wind speeds, 130, 115 miles per hour. as it hugs the coast, it goes right up through charleston, look at the timing there. saturday, 2:00 p.m. it's between south and north carolina. then heads east of

man: gio!monis: i like how you're taking direction and giving everybody direction and solving problems. it's the most i've seen you lead since i've known you. -i mean that in a nice way. -giovanni: no, thank you. lemonis: like, i feel like i'm watching you like a field general. giovanni: and i am that, and i know i can be. lemonis: okay, let's keep going. ♪ lemonis: so, i wanted to kind of get out and talk to people and find out, "okay, how many people have ever heard of bentley's? do you know where it's at? do you know what we stand for?" it's kind of getting an understanding of market research, right? ♪ this is a nice park. lisa: this is a very nice park. giovanni: okay, go get your owners. giovanni: this is shay, the manager. anything you ever need... lemonis: uh-oh, okay. this is lisa and giovanni. lisa: hi, nice to meet you. lemonis: they're the owners. -where do you buy your food at? -woman: petsmart. lemonis: is it because of price that you go there? woman: we get a purina special blend.

i just spoke with gio. we were texting back and forth with each other. he said they had to hunker down overnight because they were so worried about 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 for them to be out there on the roads. and bart of the reason, the dangerous things you see there, that's one of the biggest concerns for many out there in the 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 >>> back with the latest on hurricane matthew, and for days >>> 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 g >> unfortunately, this is going to kill people. >> the

>> gio benitez in boston for us tonight. gio, thank you. >>> now, to a developing headline right here in new york city tonight. a court appearance for the suspect in the bombings that rocked new york and new jersey last month. abc's linsey davis now with our first look at the suspect since that day on the gurney. >> reporter: bandaged and bedridden, today ahmad rahimi -- the man accused of three bombings in new york and new jersey last month -- made his first appearance in court via video conference from his hospital room. >> were you provided with a copy of complaints charging you with various offenses from the city of linden? >> yes. >> reporter: his attorney at his bedside entered a plea on his behalf of not guilty to five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offenses. the last time we saw rahimi, he was on this stretcher after a shootout with police. rahimi was cooperative during the arraignment, answering to the judges questions, but he made no other statements. bail is set at $5.2 million. david?

here's abc's gio benitez. >> my face. >> reporter: it's the sense moment caught on camera in madera, california. the young woman you hear is a civilian passenger inside a police car on a ride-along to learn more about police work. at 4:34 a.m., the officer she's with tries pulling over this mazda, but instead -- >> he's not stopping? you're kidding me, right? >> reporter: now watch that passenger window. >> no, no, no, no, no, no, no. >> shots fir windshield and pass right between the officer and his civilian passenger. >> that was purely by the grace of god that these two survived. >> reporter: the passenger suffering only minor cuts from flying glass. the shooters got away, leaving their gun, but tonight, a promise from police. >> we will have people in custody before the week is out. >> reporter: gio benitez, abc news, new york. >> gio, thank you. >>> when we come back here tonight, the missing college student, the reward now jumping to $100,000. >>> also, that deadly plane moments after takeoff. >>> new recommendations tonight for parents about babies, and where they should sleep

our thanks to gio and the team further south from here. this hurricane has already carved a deadly path of destruction straight through the caribbean. in fact, in haiti, more than 100 people dead on the islands in the caribbean, the first pictures coming in tonight. and look at this. it hit the bahamas a short time ago, where people were seeking shelter. power lines down. american tourists seeking shelter, as well, there. right there in nassau. abc's alex perez tonight. >> reporter: matthew roaring through the bahamas, amid torrential downpours. want you to take a look in the distance over there. that's the ocean, at least what you can make out it. in nassau, the capital city, conditions deteriorating by the hour. it's now about 11:15 in the morning, and the eye of hurricane matthew has now passed beyond us. one way you can tell, look at the palm trees. they're all blowing in the opposite direction. matthew blowing out power lines. the storm surge up to 15 feet. it's now been raining for about six hours and the gusts are really picking up.

gio: here in kingston, jamaica, the first bands of this storm started moving in. we saw that heavy rain, and we've already seen flooding even within just half an hour of it starting to rain, incredible flooding here. but the real concern is actually now in haiti, because now it looks like the worst of the storm is going to hit that island, which of course was ravaged by that earthquake in 2010. are going to be hit, potentially, with this major, major storm. what they are concerned about now are mudslides and that major, major rainfall in haiti. in fact, the rain is more a threat than the wind, so we are going to be watching that. the state department has now warned all americans to get out now, saying time is limitted for a safe departure. gio benitez, abc news, kingston, jamaica. cherise: the storm's path and is still very uncertain. meteorologist hayley lapoint is tracking hurricane matthew. hayley: hurricanes, tropical storms are always very difficult for us to forecast, but especially when we are looking at a week in advance. that is only could be seeing the e

>> gio benitez with us tonight. gio, thanks. >>> next this evening, new air bag worries after that massive recall involving takata air bags. this time, the government accusing an american company of stonewalling their investigation into a fatal car crash. arc automotive, from tennessee, made the air bag inflator linked to the death of a woman in canada. the potentially dangerous inflators could be in some 8 million mainly older vehicles made by gm, fiat chrysler, hyundai and kia. >>> and to that breaking development tonight involving wells fargo. the ceo is now stepping down. john stumpf announcing late today, he is retire, effective immediately, with reports of up to 134 million in severance. that scandal making national headlines. the company firing more than 5,000 employees for creating more than 2 million fake accounts without telling customers and yet charging them fees. last month, he agreed to forfeit $41 million of his bonus. >>> there is still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this wednesday. the powe

>> gio benitez tonight. gio, thanks. >>> and now, to what investigators are learning about that massive fire on the runway at o'hare airport. the right engine bursting into flames on friday, just moments before takeoff. passengers then fleeing down the emergency slides. the ntsb now calling it an uncontained failure in that engine. and tonight, should there be concerns about thousands of other engines right now in use? here's abc's david kerley. >> reporter: even the pilots didn't realize the catastrophic nature of this engine fire. >> go! go! >> jump and slide. >> reporter: an "uncontained failure," the boeing 767 engine, meaning heavy pieces of metal blew out of it, most likely ripping through the fuel tank in the wing. one piece flew 3,000 feet, going through the roof of a ups warehouse. it was a part like this that failed, part of the turbine. it spins around 10,000 times a minute inside the engine. a similar part has failed on three other 767s in the past 16 years. breaking into pieces, and an order for