- Theme parks to reopen Saturday
- Hurricane downgraded as it enters Florida.
Hurricane Matthew has now been downgraded to a Category 3 Hurricane.
Wind speeds decreased as it continued its course in the Atlantic Ocean travelling towards the coast of northern Florida. The hurricane was expected to blow ashore early Friday north of West Palm Beach, and then slowly push north for the next 12 hours along the Interstate 95 corridor, through Cape Canaveral and Jacksonville.
Matthew will downgrade further to a Category Two Hurricane as it passes the coast of the State of Georgia. From there Matthew is expected to downgrade further to a Category One Hurricane as it passes off the coast of South Carolina Saturday.
Although Matthew will remain a distance from the Orlando area, weather conditions there are poor with heavy rain and strong winds and the majority of Orlando’s theme parks will remain closed as a precaution. Theme parks are expected to open tomorrow.
Airports across the state experienced flight disruption. The Fort Lauderdale and Orlando airports shut down. The Palm Beach International Airport reported a wind gust of 50 mph with the centre of the storm 70 miles offshore. Airlines cancelled more than 3,000 flights Thursday and Friday, many of them in or out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Amtrak suspended train service between Miami and New York, and cruise lines rerouted ships to avoid the storm, which in some cases will mean more days at sea.
Disney World closed for only the fourth time in its history. It previously closed on Sept 26, 2004, for Hurricane Jeanne, Sept 4 and 5 1999, for Hurricane Frances and Sept 15 1999, for Hurricane Floyd. It was also evacuated in a brisk 30 minutes on 9/11, but the parks were not closed beforehand
- Monitor the progress and forecast of Hurricane Matthew here
