Weakening Hurricane Matthew brings flooding to south-eastern US

David Beasley, president of Insurance Recovery, surveyed the damage and said although it looked bad, the main strip was hit harder by Hurricanes Charley and Frances in 2004. This is not much compared to those two, he said.

Nasa reported after a reconnaissance flight that Floridas Space Coast, including the Kennedy Space Center and military facilities on Cape Canaveral had dodged major damage, despite equipment recording gusts up to 132mph.

After the initial inspection flight Saturday morning, it was determined that the center received some isolated roof damage, damaged support buildings, a few downed power lines, and limited water intrusion, the agency said in a statement.

On Saturday, Matthew sideswiped two of the souths oldest and most historic cities Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina and also brought torrential rain and stiff wind to places such as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. After pounding North Carolina and drenching parts of Virginia, it was expected to veer out to sea, lose steam and loop back around toward the Bahamas and Florida, too feeble to cause any trouble.

For nearly its entire run up the coast from Florida, Matthew hung just far enough offshore that communities did not feel the full force of its winds. Its eye finally blew ashore just north of Charleston on Saturday, but only briefly. And by that time, Matthew was barely a hurricane, with winds of just 75mph.

About 100 guests and workers had to be evacuated from a Comfort Inn motel in the North Carolina coastal town of Southport after the hurricane cracked a wall and left the roof in danger of collapse, authorities said. Dramatic video showed Fayetteville police rescuing a woman and her small child from their car as rising waters swallowed it.

On Sunday afternoon, the storm was centered about 150 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, off the coast and moving further out to sea. It still had hurricane-force winds of 75mph.

An estimated 2 million people in the south-east were ordered to evacuate their homes as Matthew closed in. By hugging the coast, the storm behaved largely as forecasters had predicted. A shift of just 20 or 30 miles could have meant widespread devastation.

People got incredibly lucky, Colorado State University meteorology professor Phil Klotzbach. It was a super close call.

On Sunday many were still unable to return home, while some faced security check points.

While Matthews wind speed had dropped considerably by the time it hit the south-east coast, the storm will rank as one of the most powerful hurricanes on record, based on such factors as wind energy and longevity, and as one of the most long-lived major hurricanes, too. It was a major hurricane that is, with winds of at least 110mph for just over seven days.

Hundreds of thousands of people lost power in North Carolina, three-quarters of a million in South Carolina, 250,000 in Georgia and about 1 million in Florida. Four deaths were blamed on the storm in Florida, and three in Georgia.

The deaths included those of an elderly Florida couple who died from carbon monoxide fumes while running a generator in their garage and of two women who were killed when trees fell on a home and a camper.

In South Carolina, a 66-year-old man was found outside his nursing home in Columbia, pinned beneath his electric wheelchair and face-down in standing water from the rains, a coroner said.

The property data firm CoreLogic projected that insured losses on home and commercial properties would amount to $4bn to $6bn, well below Hurricane Katrinas $40bn and Superstorm Sandys $20bn.