Hurricane Matthew started off as what was predicted to be a typical hurricane but quickly turned into a post-tropical cyclone. It is the 13th named storm, fifth hurricane and second major hurricane of the active 2016 Atlantic hurricane season.

“My son attends the University of South Carolina that’s in Columbia, and they didn’t get a whole lot of damage. They canceled classes Tuesday afternoon and they were canceled for the rest of the week Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” Ms. Kim Puckett, special education, said. “Friday night when the hurricane was supposed to hit they were put on lockdown, and they weren’t allowed to leave their dorms from 7 o’clock in the evening until they were given the all clear.” 

Originating from a tropical wave that started in Africa, Matthew is now known as the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Stan in 2005.  Matthew has caused 546 to 1,332 deaths in Haiti, one in Columbia, four in the Dominican Republic, one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and 46 in the United States.  

“The biggest thing my son said he noticed was a lot of wind and a lot of tree limbs on the ground. There wasn’t much flooding,” Puckett, said.

Hurricane Matthew hit Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and the most recently North Carolina which caused major damage. There are still some areas where floodwaters still remain, North Carolina being the main place that is still suffering from Hurricane Matthew.

Nearly a week after Hurricane Matthew hit North Carolina, parts of it is still under water. Specifically an area that is about 75 miles east of Raleigh named Princeville. Every road into that town is off limits and most of the 2,000 residents had to evacuate. This isn’t the first time Princeville has been apart of a disastrous flood, they experienced this in 1999 during Hurricane Floyd.

This flooding has caused $1.5 billion in damage to over 100,000 homes, businesses and government buildings. The flood left about 900,000 customers without power. Due to this flood, federal offices have granted $17.7 million to North Carolina in the past 10 days. They are doing everything in their power to try and save personal belongings such as photos and making sure families stay together.

In towns all over North Carolina, people are suffering and worried as they sit and wait to find out if their homes or businesses made it or not.