Doug Stanglin and James Dean

USA TODAY NETWORK

Hurricane Matthew pushed north Friday with diminished strength, prompting officials to downgrade it to a Category 2 storm -- but several states still face possible deadly flooding.

A hurricane warning has been extended into North Carolina and blunt warnings were issued in South Carolina, including the city of Charleston. The National Hurricane Center predicted the storm's center would move into Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday, eventually moving into North Carolina by Sunday.

"There is nothing safe about what is getting ready to happen," South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said Friday. "This is the last time you will hear my voice when I am asking you to evacuate. We need everybody to consider evacuating and take this very seriously."

At least four people died in Florida and over 1.1 million people were without power. An elderly St. Lucie County couple died from carbon monoxide fumes while running a generator in their garage and two women were killed in separate events when trees fell on a home and a camper.

South Carolina officials were particularly worried about the threat of storm surges as high as 8-feet on barrier islands and historic Charleston. Officials at the state’s Emergency Operations Center in West Columbia said winds on Folly Beach near Charleston increased to 50 mph with gusts to 70 mph, said Mike Proud, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Columbia.

About 15,000 customers were without power in South Carolina, a number that officials expect to increase.

People in coastal areas should stay off the roads because “they will die,” warned Tom Johnson, emergency manager for the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

“We are not anticipating going out and clearing any roadways or anything of that matter until at least Sunday morning,” Johnson said.

Charleston's police chief announced a midnight to 6 a.m. curfew for Friday to protect the public from the high tide expected at 1 a.m. “We do not want to deal with individuals who get themselves trapped out in this severe situation,” Chief Greg Mullen said.

Of the 500,000 people instructed to leave low-lying coastal areas, Haley said that more than 300,000 people had pulled out. Many of those who didn't, she said, were on Daniel Island, a 4,000-acre area on the east bank of the Cooper River in Charleston.

As of 11 p.m. ET Friday, Matthew was located just off the Georgia coast, moving northwest at 12 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Matthew continued to pack sustained winds up to 105 mph, threatening devastating storm surges in a four-state area.

Not everyone has shown fear for the conditions. Dozens, some with dogs or their children, others with malfunctioning umbrellas, walked along Charleston's historic Battery on an oceanfront path Friday afternoon as strong gusts and rain pelted visitors and angry waves pushed inland. Most said they were curious about the storm or suffering cabin fever.

Barbara and Daniel Bailey of James Island were among the parents who brought their kids. She said they just wanted to get out of the house and look before the curfew went into effect.

Keith Johnson of Charleston said he wasn’t able to get out and experience Hurricane Hugo so he decided to do so today. “I had cabin fever,” he said.

As the hurricane trekked northward, the hurricane center extended the hurricane warning as far as Surf City, N.C. In addition, a hurricane watch has been posted for north of Surf City to Cape Lookout.

Many in South Carolina have been evacuating coastal areas.

“We are seeing shelters start to have a lot more people in them,” said Derrec Becker, a spokesman for the South Carolina Emergency Management Division. “We think that they are seeing the news reports coming out of Florida.”

Becker cited one resident on a barrier island near Hilton Head.

“Somebody decided to stay on Daufuskie Island yesterday, they now want to leave,” he said. “Problem is that we don’t know if we can get help to them. The ferries have stopped running due to tropical storm-force conditions.”

While many hotels are full, Becker said there is ample room in shelters throughout the state.

“We have a capacity for 26,000 people statewide,” he said. “We have about 4,000 people staying in them right now.”

In North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory warns of heavy rains at or near the coast and power outages from strong winds. He said the National Guard and emergency equipment, including high-water vehicles and swift-water rescue teams, are being assembled as the storm track closer to the state.

In Washington, President Obama declared a state of emergency for North Carolina, following similar declarations for Florida. Georgia and South Carolina.

In Georgia, more than 500,000 people fled the coastal areas for the interior and thousands sought refuge at shelters.

Officials in Glynn County, along the coast, warn of widespread devastation on St Simons and Jekyll Islands from what they it call a "1 in 500-year storm surge event" with a 9-foot wall of water carrying 25-foot waves.

“Under the current forecast, total devastation of the barrier islands is possible and portions of F.J. Torras Causeway and Jekyll Island Causeway may be completely lost,” county officials said in a statement.

In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott said at a mid-morning briefing that he remains "very concerned" about the danger of storm surges, and said the "worst effects are still likely to come."

"The storm has passed only half our state," Scott said."So, this is not over."

Both Jacksonville, Fla., and St. Augustine, Fla., were battling rising water.

In Jacksonville, Fla., authorities were bracing for the potential of 3 feet of flooding downtown and the highest storm surge in more than six decades.

“We are in the middle of it,” said Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry in an evening briefing at the Jacksonville Emergency Operations Center. “Do not go outside.”

In St. Augustine, Mayor Nancy Shaver says the waves and storm surge could top 8 feet in 451-year-old city. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Shaver said the flooding “is just going to get higher and higher and higher.”

The mayor said roughly half of St. Augustine’s 14,000 residents chose to stay in their homes.

ational Weather Service officials have called for between 6 and 9 feet of storm surge on the beach and into the St. John’s River. The record, set in 1898, is 8.5 feet, said Jacksonville National Weather Service Meteorologist Angie Enyedi.

In Washington, President Obama said Matthew "is still a really dangerous hurricane" and called on residents of the affected states to "pay attention to what your local officials are telling you."

Officials say people who refused to evacuate from central Florida’s Atlantic coast are calling for help now as Hurricane Matthew’s western eyewall brushes past Cape Canaveral, the Associated Press reported.

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More than 100,000 people in the Brevard County area had lost power early Friday, according to emergency operations spokesman David Waters.

Mandatory evacuation orders had been issued for 90,000 people living on barrier islands and in mobile homes and low-lying areas. Waters said some residents who refused to leave now find themselves cut off as they face the worst of the hurricane.

He said a family called in that the roof “just flew off their home on Merritt Island.”

Waters said people will just have to stay put for now and do the best they can until conditions improve and paramedics and firefighters can be dispatched to help them. He spoke by phone from the county’s emergency operations center, which was running a backup generator because it had lost electricity.

Along with the power outages, the water supply to the barrier islands was cut off to avoid compounding the storm flooding if the system got damaged.

Waters said he has talked to other families who have said things like, “We’re scared. We wish we hadn’t stayed.”

Matthew, the most powerful storm to threaten the Atlantic coast in more than a decade left hundreds of people dead in its wake, mainly in Haiti, as it roared through the Caribbean, Reuters and the AP reported. Reuters, tallying deaths reported by civil protection officials at a local level, put the toll Friday at 800.

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The winds picked up along Vero Beach, midway between West Palm Beach and Cape Canaveral, stripping away palm fronds, ripping awnings and blowing sand that stung the face. Waves crashed on the beach, and rain came in short bursts.

As it moved north Thursday evening, Matthew stayed about 100 miles or more off South Florida, sparing the 4.4 million people in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas from its most punishing effects.

Forecasters expect Matthew to stick close to the coast of Georgia and South Carolina over the weekend before veering out to sea — perhaps even looping back toward Florida in the middle of next week as a tropical storm.

Fred Johnson, meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said the latest expected path of the hurricane indicates that winds from the storm will be somewhat lower than initially predicted.

Streets in Vero Beach were partially covered with water Thursday night, and hotel guests in Orlando were told to stay inside, though a few went out to smoke or watch the rain.

In Washington, D.C., the Department of Defense also stepped in and approved a request by the United States Agency for International Development to unlock $11 million in humanitarian and civic disaster aid in response to the hurricane, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters Thursday. The U.S. Southern Command is overseeing U.S. military relief efforts in Haiti and a team arrived in Haiti Wednesday, Cook said.

James Dean is reporting for Florida Today, Doug Stanglin reported from Mclean, Va. Contributing: Tim Smith and Elizabeth LaFleur, of The Greenville News, reporting from South Carolina.