Residents of the US state of Florida scrambled to escape the path of Hurricane Matthews on Thursday as it pounded the Bahamas after leaving 27 people dead in the Caribbean.
The storm, which is swirling near the northwest Bahamas, is expected to intensify to a Category Four hurricane as it moves northwest towards Florida.
Matthew, the worst storm to hit the Caribbean in nearly a decade, has already forced the closure of airports in the Bahamas, with cruise ships re-routed from the popular tourist destination, the government said.
"Seriously consider now moving to higher grounds," Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie told southern coastal communities before the storm hit.
In its latest bulletin, the US-based National Hurricane Center reported that hurricane conditions were expected to reach Florida by late Thursday.
"This hurricane is life-threatening. Listen to your local officials and follow evacuation notices," Florida Governor Rick Scott said on Twitter.
US President Barack Obama warned Americans in the storm's path to take the threat seriously.
"We hope for the best, but we want to prepare for the worst," he said.
The storm slammed into Haiti and Cuba as a Category Four hurricane on Tuesday but has since been downgraded to three, on a scale of five, by the NHC.
Matthew was packing maximum sustained winds of 12 miles (19 kilometers) per hour as it swirled some 60 miles southeast of Nassau at 0900 GMT.
The hurricane is expected to move "very close to the east coast of the Florida peninsula" Thursday through Friday, the NHC said.
"Everyone in our state must prepare now for a direct hit," said Governor Rick Scott, as evacuation orders were issued.
Schools and universities closed for the rest of the week, authorities were distributing sandbags for doorways, and store shelves were bare.
"We're not really afraid, Florida has been through this thing for years," said Rick Basel, 63, a retiree loading his car with food and water to last three or four days.
Further north in South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley ordered the evacuation of several coastal counties -- with more than a million people affected.
The order included the historic city of Charleston, a tourist magnet boasting cobblestone streets lined with graceful antebellum homes.
News footage showed bumper to bumper jams on highways and tensions were high as some gas stations ran out of fuel.
Hurricane Matthew killed four people, including three children, when it slammed into the Dominican Republic, officials said Tuesday, bringing the total death toll from the storm to at least seven.
Two children were killed when their home collapsed on them in the poor hillside neighborhood of Capotillo, in the capital Santo Domingo, said an AFP reporter at the scene.
Another died in similar circumstances in the nearby neighborhood of Puya, while a man was killed when a wall fell and crushed him in a district of the capital known as Manoguayabo.
The Category Four hurricane barreled into the island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti, shortly after daybreak Tuesday, packing maximum sustained winds of around 230 kilometers (145 miles) per hour.
At least three people have been reported killed in Haiti.
In both countries, the victims lost their lives as gale-force winds and rain lashed the island overnight, even before Matthew made landfall. Officials warned the death toll could still rise.
Dominican officials said they had been forced to evacuate some 800 people. Nearly 18,000 others are sheltering with family or friends.
The country’s Center for Emergency Operations said the storm damaged nearly 200 homes and cut off 31 towns.
It declared a red alert in 19 provinces, including along the Haitian border.
Dominican officials warned that heavy rains and winds of up to 60 kilometers an hour “could last for several hours” around the capital.
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