From palm beach to jacksonville. Before it is expected to move further north impacting 19 Million People in all, and then potentially looping back around for a second hit. Tonights impact expected to bring sustained winds of up to 140 Miles Per Hour. Storm surges of up to 11 feet and rain amounts up to 15 inches along a path that ensures the storms intensity and to repeat, risks looping, lingering trail of destruction. We will, of course, have live coverage throughout the hour and this evening as florida endures a blow for which officials have been preparing. Governor rick scott issuing an update just an hour ago. Protecting lives remains our number one priority. As ive continued to activate more troops for lifesaving missions. Theyre prepositioned all across the state. Helping people evacuate right now for safety. The sheriff of two of the counties expected to be most heavily impacted, palm beach and st. Lucie county, expressed grave concern about some residents not heeding those warnings. People do not seem to get it and are not leaving, and i have already checked, im not saying this to be theatrical, you all know me. I dont lean toward bravado, but i talked to my detective captain earlier today and i asked him do you have body bags . Are you prepared for mass casualties . Because if people do not leave, and we get 140 mile an hour wind gusts in some of our mobile home places, we are going to have fatalities. Many of us have dealt with storms in the past. Weve dealt with charlie, francis, gene, wilma. This is like none of those. 3,500 National Guard have been activated. Thousands have already taken advantage of prepositioned shelters. Hospitals on the east coast of florida have been evacuated. Thousands of flights have been canceled. Up to 10 Million People could lose power. President obama declared a state of emergency in florida and South Carolina. Authorizing the federal Emergency Management agency to coordinate all Disaster Relief efforts. But with storm surge expected to be even more damaging than the devastating catastrophic winds, officials are warning some areas may be uninhabitable for weeks or months. This after Hurricane Matthew has already ripped through haiti and much of the bahamas killing hundreds. Craig melvin is in melbourne, florida, tonight, and craig, whats it look like there . Reporter chris, over the last hour or two, i can tell you that the conditions here have started to deteriorate just a bit. The winds have picked up. The rain is sporadic. Right now, its not falling too badly, but a short time ago, it was coming down in sheets. I want to show you downtown melbourne. Melbourne is a town, city of about 75,000. Crickets here. Its a ghost town. The good news, most of the folks seem to be heeding the pleas from local officials to get the heck out of here. The cars that we have seen by in large have been Law Enforcement vehicles, emergency vehicles. Weve also seen the trees start to palm trees [ inaudible ] these palm trees, some of the husks there in the streets. The major concern, just mention t mentioned it, the storms, id say maybe 500 feet or so from the ocean. 3 00, 4 00 tomorrow morning when the winds have picked up north of 100 Miles Per Hour, theyre expecting at least 10 inches, close to a foot of water to come down this street to a certain extent, flooding a primary concern here. Were about an hour south of orlando. The drive in from the airport, boarded up businesses. Gas stations shut down. Again, the good news, most folks seem to have gotten the heck out of here. There is a causeway that typically they shut down when winds pick up to 35, 40 Miles Per Hour. I talked to a local official about 30 minutes ago. He said theyre not going to do that because they want the remaining folks who arent he h get the heck out. This is a Barrier Island. In a couple hours when the conditions deteriorate even more, were also going to be getting the heck out of here as well to the mainland. They shut off the water around 6 00. They do this when bad storms come. They shut off the water to protect the infrastructure. So folks who are here wont have water probably very much longer. I can also tell you that the airport, the Orlando Airport shut down 8 00, no incoming flights, no Outgoing Flights as well. There is no curfew. I talked to the Police Sergeant a short time ago. That was something that had been considered, but they said right now since folks by in large seem to be heeding local officials, theyre not going to put that we do have one sir, are you a hang on one second. Are you want to let you know were we saw you reporter thank you. You are with the Fire Department . Can you tell me how things are going so far . Right now its not that bad. You know, coming into the middle of the night, just waiting for it. Reporter it seems to me at least that folks have listened to you guys. They actually have. Its a ghost town. Not very many cars right now going around. They have listened to the warnings and looks like theyve evacuated. Reporter whats the primary concern, whats the main concern for you . Wind damage. Flooding. Then people getting stuck, ones who did stay here getting stuck in their homes. Reporter Fire Department, of course, you are all sheltered in places over here just waiting first thing. After the fact youll guys be deployed and respond to do what you guys do so well. Yeah, basically in the morning when its calmed down a little bit. We cant go out in it. Reporter 2004, 2005, i know this is a community that was rocked by at least tropical storms, ivan doing among the worst. Are we expecting it to be that bad this time around . Weve been listening to the weather reports and theyre saying yes, we are. Reporter thank you for sharing again. Yeah. Reporter be safe out there. Thank you, again, for the geographic correction. You guys, were just outside melbourne. Thank you. Reporter thank you, jeff. Chris, thats the latest from here. All right, craig, melbourne, florida, please dont stay out there too long. Okay, craig, get safe. Joining me now, nbc news ron motte who is in Daytona Beach. Ron, youre driving around Daytona Beach which is also, as i understand it, an area under mandatory evacuation. What are you seeing . Reporter well, were just we decided to take a quick ride while we can still do this, chris, so were on the main north south drag for all the folkses who know Daytona Beach. This is the beach, just to our east by a half a block or so. This is what officials, if you take a look outside, this is what they want to see is very little to no traffic at this moment. We have seen a sporadic car or two pass us, and we do know that further down the road, there is a Police Officer stopping vehicles making sure that they know to get inside and that theyre not out here joyriding trying to be a part of this storm. We can tell you that a lot of the businesses along atlantic avenue here have not boarded up and maybe theyre taking a chance thinking that if this storm, if the eye of the storm stays to our east, and over the water, that we would have pretty much straightline winds from the north, maybe northeast to the north, and then at some point they will switch around after the eye passes through this area and start coming from the south and southwest. But a lot of businesses have boarded up. We can tell you that a lot of the shelters here filled up pretty quickly. We met with the woman who is fairly new to florida, shes been here three years or so. Shes very nervous. This is her first hurricane. She lives in a mobile park. She did leave and evacuate. She left her pet with a neighbor there who she says has a little more substantial mobile home and she thinks her pet and her neighbors will be okay. But this is going it be a longlasting weather event, chris. You know, hurricanes typically will pass through 8, 10, 12 hours then its sort of safe to come back outside. Were looking at late tomorrow afternoon, maybe tomorrow night or even further into Early Saturday Morning before its safe for people to get back out here and start assessing the damage. So we probably have a couple, two, three hours before were going to start to see the real business end of this thing passing over Daytona Beach, chris. All right. Ron motte in Daytona Beach. Thank you for that. Joining me now, msnbc meteorologist bill cairns. This storm is an idiosyncratic storm and thats the reason that so many people are so freaked out about it. Its doing a lot of things that are not normal for even very strong hurricane. The potential in the forecast of a category 4 raking the coast from West Palm Beach all the way to jacksonville, florida, is unheard of. Weve never hard a forecast like that. Thats why we had such dire forecasts all day long today. Now that were getting closer to the event, we think the hurricaneforce winds will get onshore here in the next three to four hours. This is when the slightest shifts make a huge difference. We have had some of those shiftses please. The latest forecast path from the Hurricane Center shown here on this map, thats the red line. Little earlier today it was a little bit closer to the melbourne area. Now it has shifted a little bit further off the coast. You think big deal, what, 10, 15 miles . It makes a huge difference to the amount of damage were going to get in those areas. If we take a path a little off the coast, goes from historic, cross that off, bring it down to major, moderate type damage from the hurricane. If it goes a little further inland, were still talking historic. This is what really the forecasters that are watching this including myself, this is the eye of the hurricane right here. Notice this little black squiggly line, thats the path of the storm. Thats where it has traveled, the eye. Were tracking it every hour putting a little pin on the map, going to draw the line and connect it. Look at these wobbles. Took a wobble to the northeast, wobble to the west, just took a wobble to the north. All of these little wobbles, look, is that a motion thats going to affect where the landfall is going to be . Or is this greater outer cone here, the greater outer wall, is that what were tracking . The highest winds we know for sure from the Hurricane Hunters are in this. Thats the eyewall right there. If you go through that, thats where you could get category 4 rin winds. Where we bring that onshore is key to the forecast. All the wobbles make a difference between a landfall in ft. Pierce or landfall in cape canaveral. If the landfall is to the north, the forecast is better for you. In ft. Lauderdale, this storm is not half as bad as what you were possibly looking at early this morning. Thats great news for you. West palm beach, when you see jogs to north, youre cheering saying thats fantastic for us, all the people who evacuated, you like to see the little jogs away from you. Obviously we have a lot of concerns up the coast. If we can clear highly foplated cities to the south, thats billions of dollars of damage that will not occur. Lets take a look at what were dealing with over here. This is the current winfield, key throughout the overnight hours. This orange is the tropicalstormforce winds. Thats on shore. We saw that. Is is where the damage occurred. When this orange, the hurricaneforce winds move onshore. Thats the key to the forecast. Lets track that. This is one of our latest computer models. That comes out every three hours. Thats the eye. 10 00 this evening. The white is the hurricaneforce winds. You start getting significant damage, widespread Power Outages, stuff like that. We track that hat 10 00 p. M. This evening then we move it up the coast. Close to a landfall, about 1 00 a. M. In the morning. Four to five hours from now, right over the top. This model says between jupiter and palm city that would have the worst of the high winds up around the ft. Pierce area heading toward sebastian, up 5 he 95 here. The overnight hours, we track the eye potentially up the coast, the melbourne area where we just saw craig right in the atlantic area, melbourne area, coca beach. 5k a. M. In the morning the winds will be howling. Up the coast we track it. 11 00 a. M. In the morning, Daytona Beach time. It makes a fine difference. The computer model i showed you may be right, it may shift a little bit between now and then. Give me best case worst case in terms of what the trajectory is, where it hits, what strength. Right now, if that model came true, we would get the historic to catastrophic wind damaging storm surge from about melbourne, coca beach northwards. Okay. Thats if that comes true. These models are updating every three hours. Ill get another update of that coming if. That could be a little further up the coast. Thats taking in account all these little jogs that were getting. The Hurricane Hunters are flying through it, they give us that position, tell us right where it is. The lat and long. That get s fed into the weathe computers. Its such a fine line between historic or let me ask you this. Part of what i think makes this strange, right, if youve covered hurricanes and watched hurricanes, is this sort of brushing the coast trajectory. I think the thing we all learn is they gather their energy over the water, they lit lanhit land dissipates it. How long can a hurricane sustain at a category its at, 4, 3, if its moving up the coast like that . As long as the water is very warm, the winds up high arent shearing off the tops of the thunderstorms, it can survive infini infinitely. The water will get cooler. The winds are supposed to increase and shear off the top before the time it gets to jacksonville, why the Hurricane Center weakens it to a category 3. Its so much easier to forecast a hurricane thats hitting a coast like a t. The ones coming up along the coast, its the hardest forecast. You have to prepare for the worst which we have done. This is a category 4. Right. This is as bad as it gets. If it happens to go a little more off the coast all night tonight, we dont get the historic to catastrophic damage, id be more than happy to take people piece calls and say it wasnt that bad. Keep your fingers crossed. Thank you for that. Joining me by phone from weston, florida, near ft. Lauderdale, congresswoman Debbie Wassermanschultz representing parts of ft. Lauderdale. Congresswoman, how are folks in your area doing . Well, were in the midst of the tropicalstormforce winds that you guys were just talking about. We have pretty heavy gusts here. I, you know, weston, which is my hometown, is inland from the coast. About 20 miles. Just along the everglades. And, you know, it is pretty significant wind, but not nearly as bad as hurricaneforce, and so our area is not, it looks like, going to be hit directly by the hurricaneforce winds, but it is and has been and continues to be an important preparation event because we do have, since weve not had a hurricane hit florida in over ten years, chris, we have millions of people who live here now, plus the tourists who visit here who have not experienced a hurricane and certainly not a hurricane of this magnitude. And so making sure that people prepared and are ready, im sitting in my hurricaneshuttered home. We have our 72 hours of supplies because thats critical for the aftermath of the storm. The other thing that were all worrying about is right now the forecast track potentially could have it circle back around and hit us again. And so making sure that we are keeping our eye on this is really, really critical. Since i have you on the phone, congresswoman, i know that politics are not front of mind for anyone on that coast at this moment. No, right. Because of the catastrophe. There is, of course, the election. There are questions about Voter Registration, if you have massive, millions of people moving around possibly areas that they cant get back to, theres a request put in from the Clinton Campaign for the Voter Registration deadline to be extended. My understanding is the governor rick scott has said he will not be extending that deadline. I wondered if you had a response to that. Well, ill be sending a letter signed by many members of the delegation whose districts have been experiencing and will have felt the full force of the magnitude of Hurricane Matthew tomorrow morning. Formally asking him to extend that Voter Registration deadline. The deadline is this tuesday october 11th. Clearly the responsible and essential thing to do, we have people who have been expecting to have a few extra days before that deadline to register to vote. Thats the most fundamental right we have is to be able to register and cast our ballot to select our leaders and, you know, i certainly hope Governor Scott will when he gets more requests from representatives from the state of florida, representing these areas, that hell reconsider because theres certainly precedent for it and its absolutely critical that people have the ability to register to vote and make sure they can cast their ballot. This is an extremely consequential election. Were asking, my letter will ask him to extend the deadline to next friday. That is certainly doable and wont make anything, you know, wont provide any additional hardship for our supervisors of elections and i will be following up with Governor Scott after that letter goes out to him. All right. Congresswoman Debbie Wassermanschultz. Thanks for your time tonight. Appreciate it. Stay with us as we continue to monitor Hurricane Matthews path. Well be checking on the ground in florida throughout the hour. Ill speak with Daytona Police chief Michael Chitwood next about the importance of evacuating residents in those mandatory areas. Do not go anywhere. [text message alert rings] [texting keystrokes] lets just get a sandwich or something. Or something . You dont just graduate from medical school, or something. And we dont just pull smoked chicken, bake fresh foccacia and handslice avocado. Theres nothing or something about it. Get between you and lifes donbeautiful moments. Lergens flonase gives you more complete allergy relief. Most allergy pills only control one inflammatory substance. Flonase controls 6. And six is greater th one. Flonase changes everything. Were going to stay. Were going to stay. I think well be fine. Oh, yeah, im not going nowhere. Where am i going to go . I mean, i should because im close to the water, but nah. We stayed during the flood, so we didnt get hurt during the flood. Its 50 50. If friday morning its going to really be a bad one, ill go ahead and get out, right now im going to stick it out. Despite evacuation orders across dozens of counties in florida, georgia and the carolinas, many of them mandatory, some people have not left. This afternoon the Weather Channel took the extraordinary step of broadcasting a special message to floridians over a million and a half of whom live in evacuation zones. Take a listen as senior hurricane specialist brian norcross. This is like no storm in the record books. We are concerned about reports of people deciding to stay in areas under mandatory evacuation orders. This is a mistake, this is not hype, this is not hyperbole and i am not kidding. I cannot overstate the danger of this storm. Lets go now to nbc news channels jay gray in Daytona Beach. Jay, what are you seeing there . Reporter hey, chris. Were on the edge of this storm. The outer bands really are what were feeling. Winds picked up. The rain is continuing to fall. The surf has been heavy all day. You talk about people leaving and not getting out. I want to give you an idea of whats going on in Daytona Beach. Not beautiful tv but it gives you a good, descriptive idea. Ryan ryan, if you can show him. We have our camera under the tunnel to protect the gear. You can see its an empty area down there. The streets have been empty for quite some time. If youre going to evacuate, the times run out. If youre still here, youre inside your home, boarded up, moved whatever you can, and thats how youre dealing with it. There have been a lot of people, unfortunately, chris, that weve talked to here in Daytona Beach who tell me, yeah, were going to ride this thing out. Weve been through them before. The problem is each hurricane is different and weve been in quite a few. This is a major hurricane. A category 4. We havent seen that in this area in over a decade and there are a lot of transplants here. Ive talked to a lot of people whove never been in a hurricane. Theyre staying for their first one thats a cat 4. I talked to emergency officials here. What they tell me is we cant make anyone leave. If they decide to stay, they do that at their own risk, their own peril. Were not sending out our teams at the height of the storm when conditions are their worst because we cant put our people in harms way. Theyll get in as soon as they can. At the height of the storm, those who decided to ride this thing out are doing it on their own. Jay gray in Daytona Beach. Appreciate that. Thank you. Joining me by phone, Mike Chitwood, police chief for the city of Daytona Beach. And chief chitwood, let me ask you this. I know theres some nofolks who are opting to stay because they dont believe the storm will be bad, they think theyll be fine. There are some category of folks in any storm maybe staying because they dont have the economic wherewithal, dont have family nearby, cant afford a place to go, may not have mobility, they may be infirmed. Are there resources, ways to get those people out . There are resources to get out. You can call us. We have an emergency number set up. We will provide transportation in the city of daytona, beach, alone, we have over four shelters, approximately 1,000 people have taken advantage of that. I think countywide, maybe 3,500 have. So there are still shelters that have room. Theres still time to call us. For those who think this is a joke or that this is, ive ridden them out before, thats pure idiocy. This is a storm the likes of what we have never seen before. We are being projecting theres going to be devastation. Theres going to be loss of power. Loss of cell phone usage. Loss of the internet. Torns tornadoes. If you think youre going to make a phone call later on this evening, the morning, come get me, its not going to happen. Once the wind speeds reach over 50 miles an hour sustained, First Responders cant get out to help you. We cant get across the bridges to get to the peninsula to help you. Nows the time to go. The window of opportunity is there. Get out. I dont know what youre trying to prove because youre risking your life and that of your familys. Chief, there has not been a hurricane hit florida in a fairly long period of time, and nothing as far as i can tell in the history books since 1851 thats hit at this wind speed that far north. Are you folks prepared there . As much as you can be. We have all the manpower we can possibly have in place and were dealing with mother nature. I mean, i try to tell everybody, think katrina. Think katrina. And people like you had in your interview there, i mean, we had a mother today when i was up on the beachside going through neighborhoods, she had her two kids outside riding bikes. I must have spent 20 minutes talking to her. She refused adamantly said theres no reason for me and my children to leave. I even offered to bring them to the Police Station where we have our family shelter, there will be plenty of kids. She said, no, im not leaving. I cant find the lodger behind that. All right. Fingers crossed that everyone who is getting out, heeding your words. Chief Mike Chitwood of Daytona Beach. I appreciate you taking a little time tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you. Were, of course, continuing to track the path of Hurricane Matthew as the outer bands start to hit the florida coast. The latest ahead. [ crowd noise ] whoa. [ gears stopping ] when your pain liever stops working, your whole day stops. Bujust one aleve try this. Has e strength to stop pain for 12 hours. Tylenol and advil can quit after 6. So livyour whole day, not part. With 12 hour aleve. Upgrade your phone system and learn how you could save at vonage. Com business never stoping a stent . Is it o is it a caregiver determined to take care of her own . Or is it a lifetime of work that blazes the path to your passions . Your personal success takes a Financial Partner who values it as much as you do. Learn more at tiaa. Org all right. We are monitoring Hurricane Matthew as it threatens the florida coast this hour. Its precise will make the difference between a historic catastrophic impact and a moderate one. More than 2 Million People have been ordered to evacuate. Up to 19 people expected to be affected across that huge swath of coast going up into South Carolina and even north carolina. Joining me now on the phone from orlando, u. S. Senator bill nelson. Democrat from florida. And senator, have you been in touch with federal authorities and what, how does the response look to you at this moment as you await landfall . Ive been in touch with everybody. Including the top man of fema who, by the way, is a floridian, and who had helped us get through that massive number of hurricanes in the 1990s and then in 2004 and 2005. And by the way, just another historical reference point, the fellow that you had on, Bryan Norcross, he was the hero of the worst storm that this one is being compared to, hurricane andrew. It was a monster. 1992. And Bryan Norcross kept people on the air, stayed on the air and talked people through that storm that flattened south dade county and homestead, florida. So when we compare this as a monster to andrew, were talking serious business. Youve been representing florida for over a decade in the United States senate, and youve been there for a very long time. What have you learned over your time as a u. S. Senator about what makes for effective preparation and response from the perspective of the government . Weve seen the good times and the bad. Andrew was a time that neither the federal government nor florida was prepared. That has changed. What i saw this thing, six Emergency Operation centers over the last couple of days is professionalism, theyre ready, and the cooperation between the federal level and the president has declared the preevent emergency as of earlier this afternoon. Between state, federal and local governments, it has been a seamless preparation. Now is going to come the tough part, enduring the storm, cleaning up afterwards, and hopefully not dealing with a lot of fatalities, but those people, as people have been talking, as the chief of police just told you, you stay on that Barrier Island where you got a wall of 9 to 11 feet of water and a surge combined with the high tide tomorrow, combined with 140 miles an hour winds, and youre going to have some fatalities. All right. Senator bill nelson, thank you so much for taking some time tonight. I really appreciate it, start. Okay, chris. All right. Lets bring in michael grumwalt author of the swamp, the everglade, florida, the paradise. Michael, i want to talk to you because that book you wrote is a classic, incredible book about the kind of architecture that makes florida work and youve been reporting on the fact that florida is uniquely exposed. Both in its interior and on the coast. Were seeing the possibility of 111 foot storm surges and we know that storm surges tend to be the most deadly part of a hurricane. What are the possible effects for florida . Thats right. Thats right, chris. Well, water kills, and, you know, you can see a sort of perfect storm coming where you have florida which is so low lying, you know, i just moved from seven feet elevation to 18 feet and part of the reason was because were also getting these rising seas where youre having about an inch of Sea Level Rise every year which doesnt sound like much, but its the difference between wet and dry in some of these cases. Plus you add in that as youve been talking about, we havent had a really monster hurricane in at least a decade. Its sort of like ive been on your show talking about financial crises and this is a little bit like that. When you dont have one for a while, you start to think it cant happen, and it can happen. Youve got a governor there, of course, i mean, weve seen Sea Level Rise due to climate change, humancaused climate change. You got a governor there who continues to deny the existence of that but you also got insurance companies, developers and all sorts of folks, billions, if not trillions of dollars of value along that coast. Is florida adapting to what its present reality now is going to be . Well, in some areas we are like in miami beach, you know, were spending 400 million on pumps to, you know, because we were getting, you know it would be sunny, it would be beautiful and at high tide, you know, biscayne bay would be in the middle of our streets. So were starting to deal with that. Were adapting. What we really need to do is restore the everglades by restoring that flow, you would really that would be the best way to kind of hold back the everyday Sea Level Rise. But when youve got ten feet of water coming at you, there isnt much you can do to adapt and thats why some people think that in the long run, south florida just might not be sustainable. Very ominous thought as we prepare to watch matthew make landfall. Michael grunwald, thanks for making time tonight. Stay safe down there. Thanks, chris zblmp. Still to come thousands are without power already from matthew. That number could reach 2. 5 million. Well talk about that and more as our coverage continues after this break. Using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the framework. Wire. And plants need to give my shop. A face. No one will forget. See what the power of points can do for your business. Learn more at chase. Com ink g new cars. See what the power of points can do for your business. Youre smart. You already knew that. But its also eat for finding the perfect used car. Youll see what a fair pri is, and you can connect withnding tha truecar certified dealer. Now youre even smarter. This is truecar. You know wt, guys theres a lot of tree branches and dry brush over here. We should probably move the bonfire over there. [smokey whistling a tune] im guessing smokey liked that id. Hurricane matthew is nearing florida. The outer rain bands are starting to come through. The winds are picking up. Its only going to get worse through the night. Joining me from miami at rapaport, Deputy Director of the national Hurricane Center. Ed, the national Hurricane Center has issued increasingly dire warnings about this storm. I talked to bill a little bit about what makes it so distinct. From your perspective, how are things at this moment in terms of its trajectory . The biggest concern now, of course, is that now that the center is passing the bahamas is the threat to florida as you mentioned. Right now, the center is located about 75 miles offshore from palm beach. The forecast track takes it very close to the coast over the next couple, three days, in fact, the longer term takes it all the way up to along the georgia and South Carolina coast by the weekend. And the greatest risk from a hurricane of this strength is not only the wind, but its the wind that will be driving ashore the water. Thats what we call a storm surge. A storm centered here, strong winds blowing like this, were expecting a storm surge on the order of 7 to 11 feet. Thats the depth of the water at the coast that will flow inland, be waves on top so here what were showing on this red along the coast is where we believe theres lifethreatening storm surge of at least three feet. As you said, as much as 7 to 11 feet further north. Ed rappaport, thanks for that update. Joining me now nbc news miguel almagare in West Palm Beach. How are things looking there . Reporter weather conditions have been deteriorating all evening long. Were in a bit of a break in the serious conditions we saw earlier today. I do have to tell you a few moments ago, the sky here exploded in a green light. It was a transformer that gave way. This area is running on backup power. Thats going to happen probably through the rest of this evening, as a matter of fact, officials have told us that they can expect to lose power here. Locals can for several days. If not weeks at a time. Were blocks way s away from th beach, one of the busiest thoroughfares. Not tonight. It appears people are heeding the evacuation warnings. Down the road here where police were coming through earlier today, they were telling everyone that it was a mandatory evacuation, that they were forced to leave. People have been heeding that warning for the most part, though we have seen a couple of people over the past couple hours out here taking pictures. We even see some parents with children here a short time ago. For the most part it seems as though theyve retreated back inside. The weather conditions while right now are a little bit wet and a little bit windy are certainly expected to intensify tonight as just mentioned. The storm is roughly 75 miles off the coast from here, but we do expect to see more of those outer bands slamming this region at around 6 30 eastern tonight, we got hit with a very vicious squall. It was very difficult to even stand in that type of weather, much less see the sheets of rain that have been coming. The weather has been intermittent here. Again, here, a major thoroughfare right here, completely quiet, completely shut down. At least thats what the situation is for now. Its exactly what police wanted. Later on tonight, they tell us these highrise buildings, windows could explode. The buildings will lose power, debris will be flying through the area. Right now police tell us at this location were safe for the next several hours but later on tonight they want everyone out of this area. Miguel almaguer in West Palm Beach. Stay safe. Joining me by phone, Florida Power lights dave mcdermott. What is the state at this point and what are your projections for the grids integrity as the storm makes landfall . Well, as your correspondent has said, theres no question that Hurricane Matthew is going to be a monster storm. A category 4. And fpl, there hasnt been a major hurricane or any hurricane for that matter in florida for 11 years. And during that time, weve invested an enormous amount of money in strengthening the grid. But that said, you know, no utility is hurricane proof and we expect extensive damage to the power grid as a result of this storm, and were looking at as many as 2. 5 million of our customers to be without power and some of them, frankly, some areas are going to be experiencing extended outages. Can you explain to me what is it when a storm makes landfall that is what causes the power . Is it the storm surge, floods, in needed equipment . Is it power lines get knocked down by the wind . What are the parts of the storm that actually account for the grid going out . Well, its any number of things. Its certainly wind. Wind is the biggest the biggest factor that affects our power grid. And in florida, there is intense and enormous foliage. Its a 12 hour 12 month growing season throughout the year. As a result of that, theres a number of palm frauns, tree branches, trees, you know, they break off and they become missiles so they slam into our power lines and our substations and thats what causes the bulk of the damage. You know, we have an army of restoration workers upwards of 15,000 including our own workers and we put the call out and now have workers in from across the country, so theyre standing ready and on high alert ready to go into action just as soon as the storm passes, when its safe to do so. All right. Dave mcdermott, thank you very much. Well have much more coverage of Hurricane Matthew ahead including a look at the destruction its already left in its wake in the caribbean. Dont go anywhere. I just saved thousands on my loan at lendingtree. Com. In less than a minute, i found out how much home i can afford. I like how you shop for loans the same way you shop for flights online. I didnt realize that lendingtree you casave money on almt any sort oloan. I consolidated my Credit Card Debt with a rsal loan. I founa new credit card with 0 interest for 15 months. You just shop, compare, and save, its all free. Go to lendingtree right now and start savi. [dance music playing] woman looks like itone. [whistle] [danceusic playing] [record scratch] announcer don let salmonella get funky with your chicken. On average, one in 6 americans will get a foodborne illness this year. You u nt see thse microbes, but they might be there. So, learn the right temperature to cooeach type of meat. Keep your family safe at foodsafety. Gov. As millions along the florida coast are bracing for Hurricane Matthew tonight, rescue workers are just beginning to assess the full extent of the storms destruction in haiti. There are reports that hundreds of people there are dead as Government Agencies and International Relief crews start to reach some of the worst affected areas. Aid organizations are expecting Food Shortages and feari inin i cholera outbreaks. The interim president said earlier, the situation is catastrophic. The storm also battered other parts of the caribbean. Nbcs Tammy Leitner joins us from the bahamas where matthew has already caused significant damage, massive flooding significant damage, massive flooding and is still wreaking havoc. How are the bahamas doing . You know, chris, the rain has finally subsided. And we got a chance to go out and take a look around the island. The damage, oh, it is so extensive. There are power lines down, trees on top of houses, roads completely washed away. And keep in mind, the winds were about 125 miles an hour today. I want to give you an idea of just how powerful they were. So this is the roots here of this tree. This is at least ten feet maybe 12 feet tall. And so it gives you an idea of the massive, massive power of these winds that just devastated this island. We know that tonight people are still trapped in their homes. There were actually people calling into a local Radio Station all day, and these are people that live on the south and the east side of the island where the hurricane first hit. And they were describing a storm surge that came through. Now, remember, they were predicting about 15 feet. Theyre saying it was about eight feet. And some of these people, they were hiding in their attic taking cover there. That was the only way they say they were able to survive this surge. So well keep an eye on this. We havent been able to get over to that side of the island yet because the damage is so extensive. Tammy lightner in the bahamas for us tonight. Thank you. Our coverage of Hurricane Matthew continues next. G new ca. Youre smart. You already knew that. But its also great for finding the perfect used car. Youll see what a fair price is, and you can connect with a truecar certified dealer. Now youre even smarter. This is truecar. We are back with our continuing coverage of Hurricane Matthew, the massive category 4 storm with winds up to 140 Miles Per Hour has prompted evacuation orders for more than 2 Million People in the United States. President obama has declared a state of emergency for florida as well as South Carolina making federal emergency aid available. He is strongly encouraging americans to listen to local authorities as are president ial candidates Hillary Clinton and donald trump. In a personal tweet clinton said, i urge everyone to follow emergency instructions and evacuate if youre told to. Stay safe, florida. Trump said in a statement, if your home is in the path of a hurricane and you are being advised to leave, you need to do so right now. Nothing is more important than the safety of your family. Joining me now from ft. Pierce, florida, nbc news correspondent kerry sanders. How are things looking down there . Reporter well, you know, theres a lot of people on the east coast of florida who are inside their homes with shutters up. They cant tell whats going on outside. But they hear some sounds and theyre wondering if theyre getting hit by the hurricane. Im standing outside in ft. Pierce. The hurricane has not arrived here yet. Weve had some strong winds, but theyve just been gusts and theyve certainly not been Hurricane Force winds. The real concern tonight is that there are about 1. 5 Million People in a mandatory evacuation zone along the coast who chose not to evacuate. As you can see the wind behind me and you can see the rain and weve had Power Outages here. The Publix Grocery store lights have flickered as well as our own lights have flickered, the concern is those who have decided not to evacuate are staying put. And now its way too late for them to leave, but the authorities, the police who are most likely to help them, have left. Theyve pulled back. Theyre back on the mainland about four to five miles inland from where the Atlantic Ocean is. And so anybody who needs help may decide to dial 911. That will not help them. Theres nobody who is going to come help them at this point. In fact, the authorities spent some time today going from door to door talking to those who chose not to leave. And actually writing their names down and their addresses so that after matthew passes through, they can go check on them to see whether they have survived the storm or not. The Authorities Say that theyre disappointed that some people seem to have egos of invincibility by staying put in some cases so close to the beach that this 12foot storm surge likely will fill their homes with water and cause them, especially those that dont have two stories, to have to crawl up in their attics. Something we saw in katrina in a very different way but something thats just a horrible panicked ridiculous moment that could have been prevented. And i just heard a little explosion. That no doubt is one of the electrical transformers going off. Again, we dont even have the Hurricane Force winds here yet, chris. Kerry sanders in ft. Pierce, thank you for that. Joining me from jupiter florida, congressman, your district, the sbirt of your district runs along that part of the coast that looks like it might take the most direct hit. Were close to it. How are folks preparing there . Thank you for covering this because its quite alarming to have a hurricane of this strength that is potentially going to be the worst that weve seen. Very rarely do you have a hurricane run the entire east coast of florida. They typically cut across the state. So we have been urging folks to evacuate up until about 2 00 today we told them, please, please, get somewhere safe, go to a family member, go to the west coast, go to a shelter. Unfortunately, not everyone evacuates. As i was walking around. I went to some shelters, you know, people were basically saying that theyre going to ride it out, that they think it will be a bad thunderstorm. I was trying to work with Law Enforcement and they did a great job today urging people, please, take this seriously. This is not a thunderstorm. You need to take shelter. And at this point now, you cannot leave your house. You need to stay where youre at, hunker down and dont leave until this is well past. I know that politics are not on your mind tonight, obviously everyone focused on survival, but there is registration deadline on tuesday. I talked to congresswoman Debbie Wasserman schultz who said shell be formally petitioning the governor to extend that registration deadline to friday with million of people, floridians possibly displaced. Will you be joining that call as well . Yes, ive signed on that letter. Im pretty sure most of the quite a few of the delegation members have signed on to that letter. And ive been told that it doesnt look like the governor is going to extend that, unfortunately, but we are going to keep urging him to reconsider that because people are distracted. This is not whats on their minds, the election, they need to worry about their own safety now. Democratic congressman patrick murphy, also a candidate for u. S. Senate in that state. Thats all in for this evening. Msnbcs breaking coverage of Hurricane Matthews continues next with brian williams. Well, good evening from our headquarters near in new york as we settle in for what is going to be a night covering this historymaking storm that is approaching the coast of florida. Our first job here is going to be to talk to meteorologist bill karins because hes been tracking along with all his colleagues in the weather business, an interesting little bit of movement over the past hour or two along with this structural changes, few changes on the winds at the core, and so th