Take Hurricane Matthew seriously, Obama warns people

October 06, 2016 01:49

US President Barack Obama has urged people in coastal states to prepare for Hurricane Matthew, a deadly storm with maximum sustained winds of more than 115 miles an hour that is forecast to start inflicting significant rain and wind damage in southern Florida beginning late Thursday.

"We anticipate that not only is there still a chance that the core of the storm strikes Florida and some of the states further north, but even if you don't get the full force of the hurricane, we are still going to be seeing tropical force winds, the potential for a storm surge," Obama said Wednesday morning at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "And all of that could have a devastating effect."

Obama, who postponed a Wednesday visit to Florida as Matthew's path became clearer, said residents should be ready to flee with little warning.

"Now is the time for you to prepare in the event that you have to evacuate," Obama said.

Even if residents are not ordered to leave, he said, "it still makes sense for you to figure out what kind of plan do you have, what kind of preparations and supplies do you have."

Image: President Barack Obama and other officials watch a tracking forecast during a briefing on Hurricane Matthew at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, DC on October 5. Photograph: Pete Souza/White House Photo

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