Category 5 hurricane kills over 1,000

Hurricane Matthew is the first Category 5 hurricane seen in the Atlantic since Hurricane Felix. The hurricane started on Sept. 29, in the Caribbean Sea.

This hurricane emerged from Africa as a tropical wave. The wave later developed into strong tropical storm and then became an official hurricane.

The hurricane struck the US on Oct. 7 in Florida. The storm later also hit North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

The following is a summary of how the hurricane affected individual state according to ABC News.

Florida: The storm never hit Florida directly. It was 20 miles from mainland. More than 1.5 million people were evacuated. There were total of 12 deaths, caused by the hurricane.

Georgia: They avoided most of the hurricane, but were affected by flood. St. Simons and Jekyll Islands faced 9-foot walls of water carrying 25-foot of waves. Three people died due to the storm.

South Carolina: Matthew was the first hurricane to hit the state since Gaston in 2014. The hurricane did not do much damage to structures, it was more flooding. In Charleston, people were faced with 6-foot tall flooding. Three people died from the hurricane.

North Carolina: They were the state that Hurricane Matthew did the most damage to. More than 800 people had to be rescued. The state is getting non stop rainfall. At least 14 people have died from the hurricane.

According to CNN, the storm left more than 2 million people without electricity Saturday night South Carolina (833,000), Florida (673,000), North Carolina (457,000), Georgia (273,000).

Our next-door neighbors had a tree fall and crush a corner of their home! They had evacuated, and were not permitted back over the bridges to get home for a couple of days after the storm. After the storm had passed, we drove around our ghost town-like area before bridges were reopened. Homes right on the beach had significant erosion from the high winds. In many areas the natural sand dunes were wiped out, but protected homes from flooding. The dunes are now gone. –Suzanne Knight

Suzanne Knight from Ponte Vedra Beach was personally effected by this storm. She decided to stay and protect her home instead of evacuating. Knight explains their reasoning for staying.

“The prediction was for a 6-9 ft storm surge, and Category 4 winds,” Knight said. “My husband and I made probably a foolish decision to stay. Our house is a large, 2-story, concrete-block framed home with a foundation built at 10 ft. We decided that the highest predicted surge would not reach our first floor, and the strong, concrete block home would protect us against the winds.

Preparation for the storm was different than past hurricanes for Knight. Everyone knew that Hurricane Matthew would be a devastating storm. State officials encouraged everyone to evacuate.

“It was different preparing for Matthew because the forecasters were so sure that it was going to be a devastating storm,” Knight said. “At minimum, they were certain we would be without power for a least a few days, and predicting longer. Officials were begging citizens along the coast to evacuate. Governor Rick Scott said, ‘If you need to evacuate and you haven’t, evacuate! This storm will kill you!'”

While many of the areas impacted are still recovering from detrimental damages, Knight feels blessed that her house suffered minimal damages. Despite avoiding structural damage to her home, she will still have to pay a large sum of money to pay for the repair of damages.

“We were very fortunate, and feel blessed by our minimal damage,” Knight said. “A large tree fell and crushed our backyard screen enclosure. This will be an expensive inconvenience, but it will not affect our quality of life, since it did not hit or damage the main structure of our home. Insurance companies had increased hurricane deductibles to such a high level, that we will have to pay out-of-pocket for the enclosure repair and tree removal, approximately $20,000, so we won’t even make a claim!”

The little amount of damage that impacted the Knight’s household was uncommon. Many families were not permitted to enter their home for days. The Ponte Vedra area was hit hard and now suffers effects of beach erosion.

“Our next-door neighbors had a tree fall and crush a corner of their home!” Knight said. “They had evacuated, and were not permitted back over the bridges to get home for a couple of days after the storm. After the storm had passed, we drove around our ghost town-like area before bridges were re-opened. Homes right on the beach had significant erosion from the high winds. In many areas the natural sand dunes were wiped out, but protected homes from flooding. The dunes are now gone.”

Hurricane Matthew also hit multiple countries outside of the United States. Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and the Bahamas were also affected by it.

The hurricane struck Haiti on Oct. 4 as Category 4. The people of Haiti had the most death in this storm. More than 1,000 people have died.   

Being on the west coast, this storm has not affected Wesley Hinton, ‘20, directly. He and his church are praying for those in danger.

“It hasn’t directly affected me,” Hinton said. “However, yesterday in church we spent some time praying that the people there would be taken care of, and that they would come to God because of their hardships.”

Oct. 10, Hurricane Matthew changed from being called hurricane to post-tropical cyclone. The storm is still very dangerous with wind speeds up to 75 mph. Please continue to pray for those who are still in danger.

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This author can be reached via Twitter: @JohnMonke