Over the land to make a landfall. It continues to be a category 3. It is moving up, likely decreasing to a 2 and then to a 1 off the ghost of georgia and the carolinas. Travel to the southeast is difficult for much of the weekend as we look at flooding rains. Millions of people evacuated from floridas coast in recent days. Others are huin the storm moves in. Matthew weakened to a category three storm overnight. But there are still powerful winds and storm surges. Lets check in with abc news Lauren Lyster in volusia county, florida. Hurricane matthew barreling towards florida the brutal conditions intensifying as the eye of the storm taunts coastal cities. Overnight, violent winds along above 70 Miles Per Hour in some places. The storm bringing the look and sound of fireworks in the form of downed power lines, thousands facing outages, officials fearing up to three million may end up in the dark. The National Weather service saying matthew will be devastating. Floridas governor making this dire warning. Unfortunately this is going to kill people. Already it has, matthew taking the lives of more than a 100 people as it swept through haiti. The death toll there skyrocketing as the floodwaters recede and matthew battering the bahamas before heading for florida. Residents thursday preparing, filling up those final sandbags, stores are boarded up, their shelves bare. More then three Million People urged to evacuate here and in the carolinas. Some refusing to go, but many getting out clogging the highways for miles while nearly 4,000 flights have been a big concern here, the storm surge, in this area its expected to be 6 to 10 feet or more. Residents fearful this waterway could rise. You can see it already is at my ankles. In new smyrna beach, im Lauren Lyster abc news. All morning long well be checking in with reporters across florida. Now from Daytona Beach. We have been telling you about the wind and as matthew, you can see some of the flooding that is on the street here. That is why the authorities dont want you to be out here. We have seen the winds picking up here. The palm trees are waving here in the area. We are again in Daytona Beach where there is a lot of flooding here. All. Right now were learning more about the damage done overnight by Hurricane Matthew. Wisn 12 news tim elliott is tracking the latest in the newsroom. Tim. Florida governor rick scott has been active on twitter overnight warning people about the dangerous situation as matthew approaches. Heres a look at some of the damage thats already been done by the massive storm. This billboard was ripped off of its frame and started blowing in the wind. Damaged too, some are barely hanging on to poles in Daytona Beach. Power is out in patches across the state. This downed powerline hit a tree and started sparking in South Palm Beach just a few feet from a road. Well continue to track the latest damage reports and keep you updated throughout the morning. For now, back to you. Tim, thank you. Hurricane matthew is causing problems for travelers across thousands of flights are canceled today, including some in milwaukee and chicago. Lets take a live look at Mitchell International airport in milwaukee. Mike . Good morning, ben. The online flight boards list four cancelations, for flights to and from orlando. The situation is worse elsewhere, including chicago. Nearly 4,000 flights are cancelled y there. Most are flights in and out of states in the southeast, like florida, georgia and the carolinas. Again a handful of cancellations impacting the travellers in milwaukee. Call ahead or check online if you are headed out to the airport. Mike, thank you. 5 35. Now the traffic watch 12. Matt . If you are headed out, pavement is wet and light volume. The travel times are in decent shape. Thats a look at the morning commute, back to you. Back to you. Matt, thank you. Hurricane matthew weakened to a category three storm overnight. But thats still dangerously powerful. Heres a live look outside as we this is jacksonville, florida, this is under a bridge there. Heed the warnings. If you have family or friends in the area, check in with them. Sally will be tracking the storm coming up. This is live tweet as well. This is coming out of orlando. The streets are empty. We have checked in one of the reporters who said that the orlando. Most of the people are abiding by the curfew and staying in darien why have the latest smartphone if you cant use it wherever you go . Switch to u. S. Cellular for our best plan yet 7 gigs of data per line for only 49. To share more photos at your cabin or video chat at your secret fishing spot. All for just 49. The best part . We put towers in places the other guys dont. Because u. S. Cellular thinks you deserve a signal that works wherever you are. Switch to u. S. Cellular and get a whopping 7 gigs of data per line tgif. We are 20 minutes before 6 00 on this friday morning. The temperatures are 67 at the airport. The winds are calm. The temperatures between 63 and 67. A couple of showers are lingering this morning and they are moving off quickly. It is a big change in the forecast for the day. The temperatures are currently mid to upper 60s. This is as warm as we are going to be for the day. We fall into the 50s this afternoon. Showers this morning and temperatures 50s this afternoon. The lows down to the 40s. We see the breezy west winds this afternoon and sunshine. Thank you, sal. New this morning, while Hurricane Matthew slams the south parts of the midwest have had Severe Weather too. One tornado was caught on camera in kansas. A man recorded the massive funnel cloud on camera near thats a very small town in central kansas. There were other reports of tornadoes in eastern kansas, along with flood warnings. A fight between brothers turns into a crime when one man takes it too far. It all happened at a construction site in new hampshire. Police say Stanley Emanuel was inside a crane when his brother peter fired up a frontend loader and came straight for him. The frontend loader crashed into the crane which tipped over. There he is there. Mom should be so proud. Good grief. Police say Peter Emanuel nearly crashed into a police cruiser, too. Officials say this could have turned out much worse. Also new this morning, a concrete plant in illinois goes up in flames. Workers say they heard a loud boom and within minutes flames spread through the building. There was a huge plume of smoke along with a fireball. It took hours for crews to put its not clear yet how it started. Wisn 12 news time is 5 41. Back to weather watch 12. Were keeping a close eye on Hurricane Matthew as it hits florida this morning. We have a live from down south. You can see, hes wiping the camera off, it is getting a little bet of a wide shot here. Good morning, 5 45. Thank you we have a soggy ride this morning. The volume is light and the travel times are in good shape. Thats a look at the morning commute, back to you. Matt, thank you very much. We are still on weatherwatch 12 and tracking Hurricane Matthew off the coast of florida and causing a lot ov damage, Miles Per Hour. Rainfall is a couple inches an hour. The eye wall is scraping the coast of the space coastal areas. It is moving up to the north and on the way to jacksonville and the wet weather is in place across georgia and the carolinas. This is how it is going to shape upper the national h center, remaining a cat 3 for most of the day and slowly weakening overall. This is a look at warnings and watches. The hurricane warning up to the parts of south carolina. Matthew not the oenl storm out there. There is nicole. Shes staying wet out into the atlantic. We have the weekend forecast coming up. The damage. Now to tim with the latest reports. Matthew is still battering florida causing heavy rain, widespread Power Outages and some serious damage. We have video now from vero beach. Heavy rain hit the area ahead of Hurricane Matthews arrival. And a driver ran into trouble in jacksonville last night. The drer full of water. People in the area banded together to help the driver get free. Thankfully he is safe this morning. Those are just a few of the videos coming in to our newsroom overnight. Ill continue to follow the latest developments all morning. Hurricane matthew is forcing some of floridas most popular destinations to shut down. Disney has closed all its sea world is closed too, along with universal studios, even the Kennedy Space center. The parks in florida are some of the mostvisited Tourist Attractions in the world. Before getting to florida, Hurricane Matthew hit the caribbean hard, especially haiti. Overnight the death toll there rose to 283 people. Officials warn that number will likely rise in the coming days as crews arrive in remote parts of the country. Access to some areas is still cut off to rescuers because of flooding and other destruction. A reporter at our sister station wesh in orlando tweeted out some photos. This shows a gas pump wrapped up tight to stay safe during Hurricane Matthew. And heres a look inside the Orlando Airport just a few hours before it shut down. The ticket counters were deserted overnight. They are wrapped up as well. Hunkered down and a lot of people, hundreds of thousands of people evacuated the state. Must be erie to be in an airport like that and you are used to the commotion and then nothing. And the wait. We have been talking about the storm for days and days and when the rains are coming in, the anticipation must be anxiety. For a week we have been talking about it. Here at home, we are settling into a pleasant weather pattern. It is a great weekend to take a little drive. Look at the fall colors. We are really coming along with the colors here in the south. The peak here is the third week and the variety of the tree. This morning, showers, stronger storms overnight to the west. They have weakened a lot as they pulled into wisconsin. All associated with a cool front. The High Pressure is beginning to build and between the two, gusty winds are rolling in today. That is going to usher in cooler air as well. If you are headed out to operation football,r layers. By the 4th quarter, breezy and 50. We are watching the cool front coming through and stray showers this morning. Still lunchtime cloudiness and the clouds are mixing out with the breezy west winds. Some sunshine in the afternoon. 50s this afternoon. Probably 55 by 6 00. Breezes are dying down for tomorrow. It is a beautiful fall day in store for us. Temperatures this morning in the 06 s. Falling to the 50s in the afternoon. 42 tonight. 60 tomorrow. Mid 60s sunday. 70 again by monday. We see a few clouds and a little rain toward the end of next week. Right now, after months of discussion about whether milwaukees water is safe. The city is offering free water filters to some families. The program is focusing on families with Young Children and pregnant women. The city will hand out thousands of free water filters. And the Health Commissioner is recommending that all kids under six who live in homes built before the 1950s get tested for lead. Turning to commitment 2016 now. Later today, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will be in our state to fight against gun violence. Giffords is touring the country encouraging people to vote for representatives who will push for gun reform. Milwaukee mayor tom barrett will it starts at 11 00 a. M. At a Campaign Office near 81st and brown deer. Several campaigns will make stops in wisconsin this weekend. Donald trump will be in elkhorn tomorrow for the fall fest. Senator ron johnson and Governor Scott walker will be there too. And on the clinton side, former president bill clinton will be in milwaukee tomorrow. Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren is in town today supporting clinton. New this morning, a high school in new london is getting push back for its homecoming slogan. Student Council Members voted on the slogan make homecoming great again. The school says its a pop culture reference not a political statement. But some students and parents are upset, they say its too similar to Donald Trumps campaign slogan. Ellen is getting political today. Her team created a promo for the next president ial debate with a special twist. Is that real . Donald trump was really on the wwe snack down back in the day. At least once. You can see the full video and more today on ellen starting at 4 00. Then stick around for wisn 12 news at 5 00. That looks so real. It new this morning, a local group would like to give your neighborhood its very own orchard all while helping the community go green. The Victory Garden initiative is giving away five Community Orchards through a contest called fruity nutty five. Communities in Milwaukee County are urged to apply. They can win up to 30 fruit and nut trees to create local Sustainable Food sources. They just have to have 10 people get together and commit going to be on earth day in april, we award those orchards and plant them in one day. So far vgi has planted around two dozen orchards and hundreds of other trees across the area. The deadline to enter the contest is february 1st. We have more details posted on wisn. Com and the 12 news app. Now turning back to weather watch 12 and Hurricane Matthew. Wisn 12 news tim elliott is tracking the latest developments out of florida. Tim . Winds and all the problems that come along with that as Hurricane Matthew batters that state. Lets go ahead and take a live look from the southeast this morning. This is a look at jacksonville. The streets are quiet. No one out there on the roads. That is a good thing. One major problem in florida right now, massive power this hotel in juno beach lost power but the lights kept flickering on and off. The area has seen strong wind gusts, very high waves along the beach and heavy rain as Hurricane Matthew hammers parts of the state. Of course, well continue to track this massive storm and bring you updates on the damage. Back to you. Tim, thanks. People right here in milwaukee are pitching in to help people in the path of Hurricane Matthew. Why theyre heading toward the eye of the stormle millions of people are trying to get away. Its a good day to be a marquette fan. The big event thats welcoming athletes back to the basketball happening now, Milwaukee Police are asking for your help to find the driver in a hitandrun from earlier this week on the citys south side. 28yearold amy mayek was hurt in that crash. Right now she is in critical condn the mother of two was hit while crossing the street wednesday morning near cesar chavez drive and greenfield avenue. The driver kept going. Investigators have found the car that was involved, but not the driver. Anyone with information is asked to call Milwaukee Police. This weekend, milwaukee mayor tom barrett is hosting the 11th annual milwaukee fatherhood summit. Its designed to connect more dads with the community and giving them the tools to put their entire family on a path for success. Education and healthcare. The summit is at Greater New Birth Church on Silver Spring drive. This weekend you are invited to the milwaukee nari fall home and remodeling show. It runs today through sunday at state fair park. You can check out the latest Home Improvement trends and meet with local contractors. The home show opens at noon today. Tickets are ten dollars at the door. Later today, local students will get to tour inside area manufacturing plants. It is part of World Manufacturing day, designed to teach students about careers in the field. Genmet corporation aoc automation in mequon are hosting workshops today. 6 00. The news continues. Good morning and welcome to wisn 12 news this morning. Im ben wagner. And im melinda davenport. Its 6 00 on this friday, october 7th. One of the worst storms slamming this is sa live look from the radar. The storms is swirling off the coast. The damage left behind is on the screen. Two Million People have been told to leave their homes ahead of the hurricane. For the latest on the intensity we are going to sally severson. Some of the worst is impacting the space coast, that Melbourne Florida and heavy rain in orlando and disney world a closed and all of the theme parks. We are looking at the dopplar 12 Radar Network and the eye wall is remaining off the coast of florida. It is running parallel to the coast of florida. For a landfall, half of the eye wall needs to be over the land. It is continuing to the north