Hurricane Matthew's howling wind and driving rain has pummelled Florida, starting what's expected to be a ruinous, days long battering of the Southeast coast.
The strongest winds of 190 kph were just offshore, but Matthew's wrath still menaced more than 800 km of coastline.
Two million people were warned to flee inland as the most powerful storm to threaten the Atlantic coast in more than a decade charged toward Florida. Matthew left more than 330 dead in its wake across the Caribbean.
"This storm's a monster,'' Florida Governor Rick Scott warned as Matthew started lashing the state. "I'm going to pray for everybody's safety.''
The number of homes and businesses without power jumped by the hour as the storm edged closer to the coast. More than 300,000 were in the dark by Friday morning.
The winds picked up along Vero Beach, midway between West Palm Beach and Cape Canaveral, stripping away palm fronds, ripping awnings and blowing sand that stung the face. Waves crashed on the beach, and rain came in short bursts.
As it moved north on Thursday evening, Matthew stayed about 160 km or more off South Florida, sparing the 4.4 million people in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas from its most punishing effects.
As of 6 am local time on Friday, the hurricane's western eyewall was brushing Cape Canaveral, according to the National Hurricane Center. Matthew was centred east of Cape Canaveral and moving north-northwest around 22 kph.
After Florida, forecasters said Matthew would probably hug the coast of Georgia and South Carolina over the weekend before veering out to sea.
The hurricane had been a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm, but weakened slightly early on Friday to a Category 3.
