5:50 p.m. UPDATE:
The commander of U.S. forces in the Caribbean says nine U.S. military helicopters are being sent to Haiti in response to the government's request for help with damage from Hurricane Matthew.
Adm. Kurt Tidd told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that the helicopters are to arrive in Haiti on Thursday, weather permitting, by way of the Grand Cayman Islands and Jamaica. Some are equipped for search-and-rescue or medical evacuation missions, and others to transport supplies.
Tidd said his command is sending a one-star Navy admiral to Port-au-Prince to lead a "joint task force" that will help Haiti coordinate humanitarian assistance and other storm-related relief.
[INTERACTIVE: Track Hurricane Matthew's path, projected course]
He says between 150 and 200 U.S. military personnel are likely to go to Haiti, including about 100 associated with the helicopter deployments.
After moving past Haiti, Matthew rolled across a corner of Cuba and then began pounding the southern Bahamas with winds of 120 mph and heavy rain on a course expected to take it near the capital city of Nassau during the night.
At 4 p.m. central, Matthew was centered about 205 miles south-southeast of Nassau in the eastern Bahamas. It was heading northwest at 12 mph.
Check back for updates and read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
2:30 p.m. UPDATE:
Officials in Haiti say they're indefinitely postponing a presidential election scheduled for Sunday after Hurricane Matthew caused extensive damage in the southwest part of the country.
The Provision Electoral Council announced the postponement Wednesday without giving a date for a new election.
The first round of the vote was going to feature 27 candidates for president. It was a redo of balloting held last year that was annulled after a special commission found fraud and other irregularities.
Electoral Council Chief Leopold Berlanger said he hoped to announce a new date next week.
Hurricane Matthew damaged many homes and farms throughout southwest Haiti, killing at least five people. Authorities are still assessing the extent of the damage.
Check back for updates and read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
1:30 p.m. UPDATE:
Florida Gov. Rick Scott says the state could be facing its "biggest evacuation ever" because Hurricane Matthew is threatening almost the entire Atlantic coast of Florida.
Scott said Wednesday he didn't know how many people would be ordered to evacuate because it is left up to the counties, but he says every county along the coast is focused on it and has been preparing.
So far, only Brevard and Martin counties have issued mandatory evacuation orders.
Hurricane Matthew is barreling over the Bahamas and taking aim at Florida. The center of the storm is expected to arrive near the Florida coast on Thursday night. The Category 3 storm has winds of 120 mph. Florida hasn't been hit by a storm this powerful in more than a decade.
Check back for updates and read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
11:57 a.m. UPDATE
Officials in Broward County are asking some 150,000 residents who live in low-lying areas, mobile homes or along the coastline to evacuate before Hurricane Matthew approaches South Florida.
Broward County Mayor Marty Kiar said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon that nine shelters will open at area schools about 9 p.m.
Kiar also asked tourists to either stay in their hotels, with family or friends or go to a shelter. He says the airport will have a number of flight delays and cancellations and reminded anyone with a flight to check with the airline for more information.
The mayor also says the county's 311 information hotline is now open 24/7 and is available for anyone with questions about the storm.
He also said that all parks and libraries will close at 5 p.m. Wednesday and all governmental offices are closed Thursday and Friday.
Check back for updates and read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
10:23 a.m. UPDATE
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — People boarded up beach homes, schools closed and officials ordered evacuations along the East Coast on Wednesday as Hurricane Matthew tore through the Bahamas and took aim at Florida, where the governor urged coastal residents to "leave now" if they were able.
Matthew was a dangerous and life-threatening Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 120 mph, and it was expected to be very near Florida's Atlantic coast by Thursday evening. At least 11 deaths in the Caribbean have been blamed on the storm.
In South Carolina, traffic was bumper-to-bumper as people fled on Interstate 26, the main artery out of Charleston. Gasoline was hard to come by, with at least half a dozen stations along the coast out of fuel and long lines at others.
"We're staying because we have to board the house up," Buff Schwab said as she wheeled in a cooler filled with food she purchased the night before at a local supermarket.
Storm shutters were closed on a number of palatial homes overlooking Charleston's Civil War-era Battery along the water. Carriage tours made their way down streets that were largely empty of traffic.
"I'm worried. I've gotten a lot of calls to go home," Schwab said of her relatives in North Carolina. "It is what it is and we're going to sit it out and put a lot of food in the crock pot."
In Florida, theme parks watched the storm closely and told customers to anticipate altered hours. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were to take place Wednesday in the central part of the state.
"If you're able to go early, leave now," Gov. Rick Scott said.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Matthew — at one point a fierce Category 5 — will remain a powerful storm at least through Thursday night as it nears Florida. The Hurricane Center said that while maximum winds had decreased slightly, the fluctuation in intensity was expected and some strengthening is forecast in coming days.
Forecasters said there was a danger of life-threatening storm surge inundation along parts of the Florida's east coast.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced plans starting Wednesday afternoon to evacuate a quarter million people, not counting tourists, from the coast.
Haley said 315 were dispatched to two major coastal counties to help with evacuations. The National Guard and other law enforcement agents are mobilized, ready to ensure an orderly evacuation.
"We ask everybody to please be safe," Haley said, warning those thinking of staying put that they could be risking the life of a law enforcement officer if they had to be rescued later.
In Florida, a message on Walt Disney World's website Wednesday said all of its theme parks and resorts are "currently operating under normal conditions" as officials continue to monitor the storm. They advised those who plan on visiting Disney to monitor news outlets for the latest weather information.
Officials at SeaWorld in Orlando announced on its website that officials "anticipate altered hours due to Hurricane Matthew."
Government officials are worried about complacency, especially in South Florida, which hasn't seen a major hurricane in 11 years.
Officials hope to avoid a repeat of Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina, which caused major damage to South Florida in 2005, and Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm, leveled much of the city of Homestead in 1992.
The Miami forecasters issued a hurricane warning for the area north of Golden Beach near Fort Lauderdale to Sebastian Inlet, meaning hurricane force winds of 74 mph or higher are expected within two days. A hurricane watch is also in effect from Sebastian Inlet to Fernandina Beach, meaning hurricane force winds could occur.
In Brevard County, officials said shelters will begin opening at 4 p.m. In addition, Cape Canaveral Hospital near the coast began moving patients to inland hospitals.
Governors in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina declared states of emergency, and the White House said President Barack Obama canceled a campaign and health care events in Florida on Wednesday.
Check back for updates and read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
8:15 a.m. UPDATE
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Rescue workers in Haiti struggled to reach cutoff towns and learn the full extent of the death and destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew as the storm began battering the Bahamas Wednesday and triggered evacuations along the U.S. East Coast.
At least 11 deaths had been blamed on the powerful storm during its weeklong march across the Caribbean, five of them in Haiti. But with a key bridge washed out, roads impassable and phone communications down, the western tip of Haiti was isolated and there was no word on dead and injured.
Forecasters said the high winds, pounding rains and storm surge were already beginning to have an impact in the southern Bahamas as the storm, with top sustained winds of 125 mph.
A day earlier, Matthew swept across a remote area of Haiti with 145 mph winds, and government leaders said they weren't close to fully gauging the impact in the vulnerable, flood-prone country where less powerful storms have killed thousands living in flimsy shacks.
"What we know is that many, many houses have been damaged. Some lost rooftops and they'll have to be replaced while others were totally destroyed," Interior Minister Francois Anick Joseph said.
The hurricane also rolled across the sparsely populated tip of Cuba overnight, destroying dozens of homes in Cuba's easternmost city, Baracoa, and leaving hundreds of others damaged.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or large-scale devastation, though the waves had picked up a large shipping container and dropped it three blocks inland from the shore.
By Wednesday morning Matthew was passing east of the Bahamian island of Inagua, moving over open water on a forecast path expected to take it very near the Bahamas capital of Nassau and then Florida's Atlantic coast by Thursday evening.
At 8 a.m. EDT Matthew's eye was about 45 miles east-northeast of Cabo Lucrecia, Cuba. Matthew was heading north at 10 mph.
Matthew will likely pose a threat to Florida by late Thursday and other areas of the East Coast afterward.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also announced plans starting Wednesday afternoon to evacuate a quarter million people, not counting tourists, from its vulnerable coastline, and Florida began mandatory evacuations in Broward County.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott urged other coastal residents potentially in harm's way to leave as well, and said those who live in mobile and manufactured homes also are being ordered to leave.
"If you're able to go early, leave now," Scott said during a morning news conference.
Public schools also closed in Savannah, Georgia.
The hurricane center said winds had slightly decreased overnight as Matthew dropped from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm early Wednesday. But forecasters warned Matthew could re-strengthen slightly and said Matthew would remain a powerful and dangerous storm over coming days.
Along the U.S. East Coast, people raced to supermarkets, gas stations and hardware stores, buying up groceries, water, plywood, tarps, batteries and propane.
Scott urged coastal residents to prepare for the possibility of a direct hit and line up three days' worth of food, water and medicine. The White House said relief supplies were being moved to emergency staging areas in the Southeast.
In Haiti, where international aid efforts were stymied Tuesday because of the lack of access to the hardest-hit areas, muddy rivers and tributaries continued to rise as water flowed down hillsides and mountains, making more flash floods and mudslides possible even Matthew tracked away from the country.
Matthew was at one point a Category 5 storm, making it the most powerful hurricane in the region in nearly a decade.
Mourad Wahba, U.N. secretary-general's deputy special representative for Haiti, said at least 10,000 people were in shelters and hospitals were overflowing and running short of water. Wahba's statement called the hurricane's destruction the "largest humanitarian event" in Haiti since the devastating earthquake of January 2010.
Surging waters ripped away a bridge in the flooded town of Petit Goave, preventing any road travel to the hard-hit southwest. Local radio reported water shoulder-high in parts of the southern city of Les Cayes.
Milriste Nelson, a 65-year-old farmer in the town of Leogane, said neighbors fled when the wind tore away the corrugated metal roof on their home. His own small yard was strewn with the fruit he depends on for his livelihood.
"All the banana trees, all the mangos, everything is gone," Nelson said as he boiled breadfruit over a charcoal fire. "This country is going to fall deeper into misery."
Haitian authorities had tried to evacuate people from the most vulnerable areas ahead of the storm, but many were reluctant to leave their homes. Some sought shelter only after the worst was already upon them.
Rainfall totals had been predicted to reach 15 to 25 inches in Haiti, with up to 40 inches in isolated places.
Check back for updates and read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.