web1_Trumpy-cmyk.jpg

Trump supporters in Wilkes-Barre area backing him despite lewd comments

web1_wvw_ab7_faa.jpg

WVC Football: Jake Gurtis boots game-winning field goal for Wyoming Valley West

<p>CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) &#8212; A weakening Hurricane Matthew lashed Georgia and the Carolinas on Saturday in what appeared to be the last leg of the storm&#8217;s march up the East Coast, leaving millions of Americans relieved that one of the most fearsome storms on record in the U.S. wasn&#8217;t as bad as expected.</p><p>The hurricane was blamed for at least 10 deaths in the U.S., including that of a 68-year-old Georgia man who died when two trees fell on his home. Four people died in Florida, three in Georgia and three in North Carolina. And hundreds were left dead in Matthew&#8217;s wake in Haiti.</p><p>But in many places along the Southeast coast, the damage consisted mostly of flooded streets, blown-down signs and awnings, flattened trees and power outages.</p><p>As the storm passed and the skies cleared, many people already were cleaning up, reopening their businesses or hitting the beach. The power started coming back on. And all three major theme parks in Orlando, Fla., including Walt Disney World, were up and running.</p><p>&#8220;We are all blessed that Matthew stayed off our coast,&#8221; Florida Gov. Rick Scott said. &#8220;We are blessed that we didn&#8217;t have a direct hit.&#8221;</p><p>On Saturday, Matthew sideswiped two of the South&#8217;s oldest and most historic cities &#8212; Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C. &#8212; and also brought torrential rain and stiff wind to places like Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Wilmington, N.C.</p><p>From there, it was expected to veer out to sea, lose steam and loop back around toward the Bahamas and Florida, too feeble to cause any trouble.</p><p>For nearly its entire run up the coast from Florida, Matthew hung just far enough offshore that communities did not feel the full force of its winds.</p><p>Its storm center, or eye, finally blew ashore just north of Charleston on Saturday, but only briefly. And by that time, Matthew was barely a hurricane, with winds of just 75 mph.</p><p>Within an hour of residents being allowed to return Saturday to Jacksonville Beach, Fla., David Villmow had fired up the two pizza ovens at his beachfront restaurant, The Art of Pizza. He was hoping to start serving customers in a few hours.</p><p>&#8220;We got really lucky,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We could be looking at a whole lot worse. All you see are downed signs, downed fences, a few gas station sign letters missing.&#8221;</p><p>Matthew&#8217;s deadly potential was made all too clear in Haiti, where the hurricane roared ashore Tuesday with terrifying 145 mph winds. At least 470 people were reported dead in one hard-hit district alone, with other devastated areas still unreachable four days later.</p><p>An estimated 2 million people in the Southeast U.S. were ordered to evacuate their homes as Matthew closed in. By hugging the coast, the storm pretty much behaved as forecasters predicted. A shift of just 20 or 30 miles could have meant widespread devastation.</p><p>&#8220;People got incredibly lucky,&#8221; said Colorado State University meteorology professor Phil Klotzbach. &#8220;It was a super close call.&#8221;</p><p>While Matthew&#8217;s wind speed had dropped considerably by the time it hit the Southeast coast, the storm still will go down as one of the most potent hurricanes on record, based on such factors as wind energy and longevity, and one of the most long-lived major hurricanes, too.</p><p>It was a major hurricane &#8212; that is, with winds of at least 110 mph &#8212; for 7 1/4 days.</p><p>Three-quarters of a million people in South Carolina were left without electricity, and 250,000 were in the dark in coastal Georgia. About 1 million people in Florida lost power.</p><p>Among the 10 deaths blamed on the storm, two were an elderly Florida couple who died from carbon monoxide fumes while running a generator in their garage.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_hurricane-2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A woman who identified herself as Valerie walks along flooded President Street after leaving her homeless camp after Hurricane Matthew caused flooding on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. Matthew plowed north along the Atlantic coast, flooding towns and gouging out roads in its path. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_hurricane-2-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>A woman who identified herself as Valerie walks along flooded President Street after leaving her homeless camp after Hurricane Matthew caused flooding on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. Matthew plowed north along the Atlantic coast, flooding towns and gouging out roads in its path. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_hurricane-3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">An ambulance responding to a call is in the background of a truck damaged by a fallen tree from Hurricane Matthew on I-16 Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. A fast-weakening Hurricane Matthew continued its march along the Atlantic coast Saturday, lashing two of the South's most historic cities and some of its most popular resort islands, flattening trees, swamping streets and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_hurricane-3-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>An ambulance responding to a call is in the background of a truck damaged by a fallen tree from Hurricane Matthew on I-16 Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. A fast-weakening Hurricane Matthew continued its march along the Atlantic coast Saturday, lashing two of the South's most historic cities and some of its most popular resort islands, flattening trees, swamping streets and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>

Hurricane’s wrath less than feared in U.S., but 10 still dead