As Hurricane Matthew’s curious, inverted question mark-shaped forecast tracks keep weather experts guessing, transportation agencies in the Southeast are taking no chances. Matthew is expected to become an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane while it moves over the northwestern Bahamas and approaches the east coast of Florida, with peak surface winds reaching up to 145 mph near the eye.
The storm walloped Haiti and Cuba on Tuesday, but is expected to regain Category 4 intensity by the time the eye nears Florida’s central east coast, expected late Thursday. The death toll in Haiti had reached 136 by Thursday, CNN reported. Some 28,000 homes had sustained damage, officials said. "The situation is catastrophic," said President Jocelerme Prevert.