Hurricane Matthew kills 3 in Ga., leaves behind flooded roads, fallen trees
ATLANTA - A third fatality related to harsh weather brought on by Hurricane Matthew has been reported in Georgia, bringing the U.S. death toll from the storm to 10.
Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police said in a statement Saturday that they are investigating the death of a man at his home, possibly from structural damage caused by a fallen tree.
Two other deaths in Georgia occurred in Bulloch County. Three deaths have been reported in North Carolina, and four have occurred in Florida.
Those numbers pale in comparison to Haiti, which counted 470 dead in one district alone when Hurricane Matthew swept through the Caribbean island as a Category 4 storm. It has since weakened to a Category 1.
Meanwhile, cleanup efforts are underway after Hurricane Matthew rolled through coastal Georgia overnight, leaving behind fallen trees, downed power lines and water covered roads.
Gov. Pat McCrory said Saturday that the hurricane killed three people in North Carolina.
McCrory said at a press conference that "this is a very, very serious and deadly storm."
In Georgia, Bulloch County deputy coroner Richard Pylant said two people died there. One of the casualties was a man in a wheelchair who died when two trees fell on his home.
Officials have previously reported four deaths in Florida.
Meanwhile, cleanup efforts are underway after Hurricane Matthew rolled through coastal Georgia overnight, leaving behind fallen trees, downed power lines and water covered roads.
PHOTOS: Damage left behind from Hurricane Matthew
Saturday morning, Governor Nathan Deal held a news conference and urged residents to stay put as officials assessed heavily damaged areas and removed debris. Authorities said hundreds of miles of coastline in both Georgia and South Carolina remain under threat of torrential rain, high winds and dangerous storm surge as Matthew continues to batter portions of the East Coast.
Strong winds were still being felt in downtown Savannah after the center of the storm had passed. Chatham County Emergency Management Agency's Jennifer Burns said rainfall in the county had exceeded nine inches.
Debris left behind on Savannah's famous River Walk indicated the Savannah River had gone over the retaining wall overnight. Shattered limbs and burly live oak trees were littered along East Bay Street near the city's riverfront, but FOX 5's Doug Evans said River Street appeared to handle the storm pretty well.
The Georgia Department of Transportation said Saturday morning two exits along I-95 were closed because of excessive water on the roadway in Liberty County, about 30 miles southwest of Savannah. Fallen trees and power lines were also blocking I-95 at the Georgia-South Carolina state line and had shut down U.S. 80, the highway that links Tybee Island to the mainland.
There has been dozens of damage reports in Glynn County. FOX 5's Paul Milliken said the streets and sidewalks were littered with branches and leaves in Old Town Historic Brunswick.
GDOT is asking people to please stay off the roads as power companies work on fallen power lines, inspect bridges, assess roads and remove debris.
WATCH: Coastal evacuations continue
Ahead of the storm, curfews were in effect in a number of locations along the coast. Most of the curfews have since expired.
Thursday, before the storm rolled in, Governor Nathan Deal declared mandatory evacuations for people living east of I-95. To help with the traffic flow, GDOT crews created a contraflow on Interstate 16. They only allowed traffic on the stretch between Dublin and Savannah, Ga. to travel westbound, which forced people away from the coast instead of toward it.