Florida faced the most dangerous storm in living memory as Hurricane Matthew moved in from the Atlantic, threatening coastal cities with surging tides, torrential rain and 130 mile-an-hour winds.
After cutting a deadly swath across the Caribbean and leaving more than 300 dead in Haiti, the Category Four storm was to crash up against the southeastern US early in the morning.
Only a handful of hurricanes of this strength have ever made landfall in Florida, and none since 1898 has threatened to scythe its way north along low-lying, densely populated coast into Georgia and beyond.
Evacuation orders were issued for areas covering some three million residents and major cities like Jacksonville, Florida and Savannah, Georgia lay in the path of the terrible storm.
Daytona Beach imposed a curfew that was to last until dawn on Saturday, and President Barack Obama declared emergencies in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, promising federal aid.
As the first bouts of heavy rain and powerful gusts arrived at seafront resorts presaging the storm beyond, more than 140,000 homes and businesses in Florida had lost power.
Matthew has already battered Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas and US officials took no chances, warning that loss of life was a certainty.
“This storm is a monster,” declared Florida’s Governor Rick Scott. “I want everybody to survive this. We can rebuild homes. We can rebuild businesses…We can’t rebuild a life.”
As of 0500 GMT, the storm was about 50 miles east of Vero Beach.
