John Bacon

USA TODAY

The much anticipated Hurricane Matthew made landfall Tuesday night near the eastern tip of Cuba at about 8 p.m. ET as other places made preparations to protect themselves and braced for the worst.

The powerful category 4 storm was carrying maximum sustained winds of 130 mph and moving north at 8 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. At 11 p.m. ET, it was about 55 miles east by northeast of Guantanamo, the center reported.

In the United States, bottled water flew off supermarket shelves along Florida's Atlantic Coast and South Carolina prepared to evacuate more than 1 million people as the nation braced itself for the most powerful storm to smash through the region in almost a decade.

If the predictions of one top weather model are accurate, Hurricane Matthew would be "a disaster for the east coast of Florida from about West Palm Beach north up Interstate 95 to Jacksonville," WeatherBell meteorologist Ryan Maue tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

A hurricane watch was issued Tuesday for parts of Florida as Matthew roared through the Caribbean, pounding tiny Haiti with heavy rain and powerful winds and tides. Hurricane-strength winds could reach Florida midday Thursday, and the storm could linger there into Friday, National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned residents to prepare for power outages and evacuations. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley ordered evacuations of some coastal communities. The numbers had not been determined, but state emergency management officials said the total could exceed 1 million.

"This is not something that we want to play with," Haley said. "The worst-case scenario is that you get stuck on the coast and have no place to go."

The Category 4 hurricane made landfall in Haiti on Tuesday with top sustained winds near 145 mph. The latest computer models predicted a path edging closer to the U.S. East Coast, the hurricane center reported.

"We still have the core (staying) off the Florida coast," Feltgen said. "But our present track does bring the possibility of hurricane force winds to Florida."

Feltgen said it was too early to determine a timeline or impact along the rest of the East Coast as Matthew sweeps north.

More coverage of Hurricane Matthew

A hurricane warning remained in effect for all of Haiti and portions of Cuba and the Bahamas. At least nine deaths already were reported. Matthew is the strongest hurricane to hammer the region since 2007, when Felix reached Category 5 status with sustained winds of 160 mph and killed more than 130 people, most in Nicaragua.

In Florida, a hurricane watch was in effect from Deerfield Beach, Fla., to the Volusia/Brevard county line in Central Florida. A tropical storm watch was in effect from the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys northward to the hurricane watch area.

John Pendergrast, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne, warned that the storm continues to remain unpredictable but said Matthew "looks like it’s going to be a close brush."

Long lines formed at supermarkets. By midafternoon Tuesday, the Publix in downtown Fort Lauderdale was stripped of bottle water and was running out of batteries and other hurricane supplies fast.

Sean Smith, of Pembroke Pines, told the Sun Sentinel newspaper he went to a Home Depot for water, batteries and flashlights.

“My wife is sending me out cause she’s caught up in the hysteria — from the moment she heard ‘hurricane,’” he said.

Florida and South Carolina issued states of emergency. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal also declared a state of emergency in 13 coastal counties that would begin Wednesday.

Scott visited the city of Marathon to meet with county emergency management officials and said 200 members of the National Guard will be activated to support hurricane preparedness and response. Another 6,000 guardsmen are ready to be deployed if needed, he said.

"We have to be focused on the potential for power outages," Scott tweeted. "Everyone should prepare for prolonged power outages across the east coast."

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency for central and eastern parts of the state. The Georgia emergency management officials urged residents to "closely monitor local forecasts and stay weather-aware."

"The threat to Florida and the southeastern U.S. coast has increased," the hurricane center said. "Tropical storm or hurricane conditions could affect portions of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina later this week or this weekend, even if the center of Matthew remains offshore." At a minimum, "very dangerous beach and boating conditions are likely along much of the U.S. east coast."

Matthew also could cause significant beach erosion along the Atlantic coast, according to AccuWeather.

“We are preparing for the worst, hoping for the best and not taking any chances,” Scott said

Contributing: Steph Solis and Doyle Rice, USA TODAY; J.D. Gallop, Florida Today