Hurricane Matthew floods Carolinas, killing five

Media captionWidespread flooding in South Carolina as hurricane passed through

Hurricane Matthew has killed five people as it moves along the US coast.

Three people died in North Carolina, said Governor Pat McCrory, who called the hurricane "a very, very serious and deadly storm".

In Georgia two people have died, including a wheelchair user after two trees fell on his home.

Hurricane Matthew has been the most powerful storm to make US landfall in more than a decade. Thousands of people have beene vacuated from their homes.

The storm has already caused nearly 900 deaths in Haiti, four in the Dominican Republic and four in the US state of Florida as it travelled northwards over the past few days.

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The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has downgraded Matthew to a Category One hurricane, with maximum sustained winds having decreased to 75mph (120km/h).

The Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, warned people to stay in shelters and not to try to go back home on Saturday or Sunday.

"Between downed power lines and trees, and then just unsafe structures – bridge, all of those things.

Officials said emergency responders have carried out multiple water rescues from cars and homes.

Media captionBBC Weather"s Ben Rich looks at the latest forecast track of Hurricane Matthew.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption A local tour guide went out into the floodwaters in South Carolina to stream video through his phone

The NHC said: "The combination of a dangerous storm surge, the tide, and large and destructive waves will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline."

Nearly 1.6m homes and businesses in the south-east of the US were left without power.

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Charleston"s historic market was flooded

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Cars drifted in the deep flood waters

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Waves broke over the sea wall and into the street late on Friday as Hurricane Matthew hit Charleston

Hurricane Matthew first made landfall in in the US in South Carolina but its edges had previously battered the coasts of Florida and Georgia.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), which is the UN"s weather agency, had warned that the hurricane would remain dangerous regardless of whether or not it made landfall in the US.

Parts of the city of Savannah, Georgia have been submerged in several feet (one foot = 30cm) of water.

The most powerful Caribbean storm in a decade, Hurricane Matthew left up to 90% of some parts of Haiti destroyed, officials say.

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Hurricane Matthew floods Carolinas, killing five
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