As of Friday afternoon, the death toll from Hurricane Matthew in the Caribbean is 800+ in Haiti alone.

“Unfortunately, it looks like North Florida is really getting nailed by storm surge, though. The footage of water running through the streets of Daytona, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and beyond have just been bone-chilling. This storm surge threat is also about to get a lot worse through Georgia, South Carolina and even parts of southern North Carolina over the next 12-24 hours.“As Matthew gains latitude, we will see offshore winds develop in the system’s wake. However, the strength of the offshore winds will make surfing very challenging. In addition, debris and beach closures are also a concern. Finally, the surf will also drop quickly from south to north as the storm passes.”One thing worth noting: despite various social media, and other websites, there are no sharks swimming around people’s front yards in Jacksonville, Florida. The image was originally posted during Hurricane Sandy – and even then it could‘ve been fake.That said, here are some reports from the frontlines from Friday up and down the coast:"Last night, the wind was really loud and we barely slept. I think it was around 120mph in NSB. We’re still without power, the bridge is still closed, the boardwalk is all blown apart and there’s roof shingles everywhere, but damage doesn’t seem too bad, generally. It’s good that our house is OK and everyone’s safe.”“So far, so good with me. I started below the storm so I'm just following the backside of it up, which equals the best window for waves.”“South Florida fared pretty good -- a lot of boarding up houses, but thank God it veered a little off. Better safe than sorry. Even though I'm in the hospital getting stitches in my head from a surf session today.”“We really dodged a bullet [in Melbourne Shores]. If Matthew went another ten miles to the west, things could have been exponentially worse. I’m seeing trees fallen over and snapped – the law of chance is that one of those hit somebody’s house somewhere. All in all, though, not as bad as it could’ve been. But it was the right call to evacuate, to get out of here.”“Storm was mellow in Fort Pierce, a few downed trees, but power is back for most of North Hutchinson Island and they opened the bridges this morning. Waves looked decent early today, but only about shoulder high. Crowd on it, but super high tide killed it. Surfers from south Florida have been coming north and checking it here – the State Park is closed, so everyone just lining up in residential neighborhood and dealing with the tickets.”“I knew the storm was close when the winds really started to crank from the north. My friends down at the beach said storm surge is about 2-3 blocks in from the ocean, through most of Jax Beach. Even well inland where I live there is extensive flooding, debris, and down trees all over the place. The worst of it lasted about two hours, but I think we’re now on the backside of it. For my birthday (today) I was wishing for a hurricane for waves, but this is not exactly what I had in mind.”“Highest I've ever seen the river behind our house. 30-45 seconds after I got back in the house, our neighbor’s oak tree fell across our yard and destroyed our entire back deck. Closer to danger further from harm right? So blessed our house is still standing and we are safe. The river is still rising, but if the storm pushes north quickly it should switch directions and push the water out Thinking & praying for all our friends both here and the Bahamas hoping they held fast.” –For those who wish to help victims of Hurricane Matthew, here are a couple resources:https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation