Hurricane Matthew slammed into North Carolina and Virginia on Sunday, packing a diminished yet still potent punch as it caused major flooding and widespread power outages along the U.S. Atlantic coast after killing hundreds in Haiti.
Now weakened, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007 unleashed torrential rains and powerful winds as it churned slowly north after pummeling the southeastern coast of the United States, killing at least 11 people in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina since Thursday and leaving more than two million businesses and homes without power.
Early on Sunday, the storm threatened coastal communities in North Carolina and Virginia, where flash flood warnings were issued and gusts of winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kph) were recorded.
“The wind is bending the trees to a 90 degree angle in my backyard, I've lost electrical power in my home and the rain is blowing sideways,” Frank Gianinni, a 59-year-old occupational therapist, said in an email from his home in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“Standing outside in my backyard just now, and I’m humbled by the power of nature.”
Forecasters warned that widespread flooding was possible from heavy rain – 15 inches (40 cm) was expected to fall in some areas – along with massive storm surges and high tides.
"We are looking at very significant flooding. Almost every road in the city is impassable," Virginia Beach spokeswoman Erin Sutton told the Weather Channel on Sunday from the city of almost 500,000 people that sits between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
On Saturday evening, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory had urged residents to stay off roads and sidewalks to avoid "deadly conditions" caused by severe flooding and debris.
