The National Hurricane Center (NHC) last tracked the storm near Savannah, Georgia, heading northwards at 12 mph with a maximum strength of 105 mph. The NHC downgraded Matthew to a Category 2 storm on Friday, but forecasters warned of possible deadly flooding due to a potential 9-foot storm surge and up to 15 inches of rainfall.
"We expect the center of Hurricane Matthew to come very close to Charleston near daybreak this morning with life-threatening storm surge and major flash flooding along the southeast coastline from Georgia to North Carolina," ABC meteorologist Daniel Manzo said.
Hurricane Matthew has killed 13 people in the US, with six of them reportedly from Florida. The state's first victim was a woman in her late 50s who died of cardiac arrest, according to St. Lucie fire department officials. The rescue crew had a hard time reaching her location during the response operation.
Florida's second fatality was an 82-year old man initially found unconscious and with breathing problems. Officials said that they had to wait for emergency vehicles to be deemed safe to travel first before they could take the victim to the hospital, but he was declared dead afterwards.
A woman, possibly in her 60s, was Florida's third reported fatality. She was said to have been killed by a tree that fell on her while she was feeding her animals, as reported by the Volusia County Emergency Management. The same fare happened to a woman inside her camper trailer, although her male companion managed to escape with just minor injuries just as the tree fell.
Hurricane Matthew has already claimed hundreds of lives as it tore throughout the Caribbean, with the worst hit being Haiti. The storm now treads the Georgia coastline, as it's set to hit the states of North and South Carolina before it veers eastward back to the Atlantic Ocean.
Authorities in Georgia and South Carolina have advised its residents to evacuate all coastal areas in preparation for Hurricane Matthew.
