Washington - Arab Today
Hurricane Matthew has killed 15 people in the United States, barreling up the southeast cost after devastating Haiti, where more than 470 lost their lives.
The once category 4 storm has weakened to category 1 has it struck the cost of North Carolina on Sunday. But it was still strong enough to dump a record 14 inches of rain on the city of Fayetteville. Flooding has afflicted wide areas of the state.
Hundreds of people had to be rescued from the cars and homes as the flood waters rose, police said. Electric power has been knocked out from Florida to as far north as the state of Virginia.
More than 1.3 million people and have lost power in the U.S. Seven people have been killed in North Carolina, four in Florida and three in Georgia. One person died in South Carolina trying to drive through a flood, the state's governor said.
After devastating Haiti and eastern Cuba the storm made a left turn and hug the Florida coast. Earlier projections had Matthew making landfall in Florida, which would have increased the damage from 100 plus miles per hour winds.
The western wall of the storm was weaker than the eastern, also limiting the damage.
Source: QNA