Hurricane Matthew leaves at least 27 dead across 5 states

Hurricane Matthew leaves at least 27 dead across 5 states

For four days, Hurricane Matthew hit the coast of the southeastern U.S.before weakening and veering out over the Atlantic Ocean.

So far, the storm has left at least 27 dead, over 1 million homes and businesses without power today, and billions of dollars in damage.

Matthew wreaked havoc in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia before it was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone Sunday as it headed east over the Atlantic.

The death toll spans all five states: at least 11 people were killed in North Carolina, eight people including a 9-year-old boy died in Florida, four died in Georgia, three were killed in South Carolina, and one died in Virginia.

The storm brought winds of up to 100 mph, as much as 15 inches of rain and powerful storm surges of up to 9 feet to some areas.

9-year-old boy died of carbon monoxide poisoning from an indoor generator. Another victim, 70-year-old Barbara Dennis, passed away after the electricity that powered her medical equipment was lost.

…Barbara Dennis, a breast cancer survivor, used a machine that pumped oxygen into her lungs that was connected to a mask and needed a wall plug. By the time Michael tried to hook her up to one of their several dozen spare oxygen tanks, Barbara was already in respiratory distress. The former Orange County elementary school aid and real estate broker died at the hospital.

“I truly believe that had the hurricane not been here, and that they had not had this situation, my mother would still be alive today,” Sharon Dennis said.

She said neither she nor her mother’s doctors knew she could register for a special needs shelter.

The death toll is Haiti has topped 1000, and there has been a cholera outbreak.

One of the more unusual developments related to this storm involves Civil War era cannon-balls that washed ashore in South Carolina.

The explosives washed up on the sand in Folly Beach, eight miles down the coast from Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the war were fired in 1861.

Former Folly Beach mayor Richard Beck discovered the 15 cannonballs while taking pictures of the damage caused by the storm that wreaked havoc across the state over the weekend.

‘I knew they were cannonballs,’ he told WCSC.’One of them had a very distinct hole in it that went directly into it.

Matthew has been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who has been impacted by this storm.

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