ATLANTA _ Georgia braced for the worst Friday night as Hurricane Matthew barreled into the state, bringing high winds, lots of rain and water and anxiety.
Flooding had already begun in some coastal communities late Friday. The hurricane's full wrath was expected to be felt overnight as the powerful storm moved north hugging the shoreline. It wasn't clear when and if it would make landfall.
In some places, journalists outnumbered residents Friday. And for those residents who stayed, officials and rescue workers offered apocalyptic warnings of "total devastation."
Late Friday night, Tybee Island was completely cut off from the mainland with entire streets underwater on the flood-prone southern end of the island. Power was out on the north tip and wind was gusting up 60 mph, turning the rain sideways.
A dawn-to-dusk curfew is in place for Chatham County.
"Let me make it very clear," County Chairman Al Scott said during a late-afternoon news conference with elected and emergency officials in downtown Savannah. "We are not going to tolerate looting or break-ins or robberies. Once it's dark and until daylight, if you are out on the street you will be stopped."
The commissioner said a few break-ins Thursday prompted Friday's curfew.
Hurricane force winds, topping 74 mph, were expected between midnight and 6 a.m. along the coast, particularly Tybee. The rest of Chatham is expecting tropical storm force winds. A tornado warning, currently in effect, will last well into Saturday.
But flooding is the greatest fear. Rain, torrential at times, could slam low-lying Chatham for 14 hours.
A storm surge of 9 to 11 feet is predicted _ a massive amount of water that will cause widespread flooding and push far up the Ogeechee and Savannah rivers.
Tybee, a beach community of 3,000 residents is largely deserted, though the mayor estimated 100 die-hards remain.
One of those was Sonja Edleman, who has lived on Tybee for 45 years, where she has waited tables at the Sunrise diner for 28 years. She stopped by the diner on Friday to feed the fish.
"Everybody thinks I'm crazy and stupid," Edleman said. "But I don't care. It's like an adventure to me. I've stayed out here for every storm that's come this way. I just prepare good and I don't scare easily. I'm watching the TV and I'm pretty sure it won't be as bad as Florida or the Bahamas. It seems to be dropping off some as it comes up here."
As Georgia waits, Florida and the Caribbean have been slammed.
As of Friday afternoon, at least four people have died in Florida, including a woman in northeast Florida, who was killed after a tree fell on her camper trailer.
Deaths have also been reported in the Dominican Republic, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. But in Haiti, which is still recovering from a devastating earthquake that hit six years ago, a reported 300 people have died since Matthew made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.
For those who decided to stay in their homes, provisions like food, gas and even cash were becoming rare and valuable commodities.
Daniel Blue spent Friday on his bicycle in downtown Brunswick wearing a clear poncho looking for a working ATM.
He wanted the cash for last-minute storm preparations. Blue lives alone, save Precious _ his 6-year-old Collie-shepherd mix.
But their hopes were dashed by a boarded-up Wells Fargo fortified with sandbags. He has sandbags at his home, too.
"When the water starts rising, it's time to go," he said. "I can swim, but I can't swim all that."
Blue said most folks aren't respecting the storm like he is. Some of his neighbors are sitting on their porches.
"A lot of us are being hard-headed," said the 31-year-old Brunswick native. "We feel like it's going to pass like it normally do, but it may hit this time," he said. "It sounds like a biblical storm."
On St. Simons Island, Dave Schoeppner pulled out of his driveway just before 10 a.m. Friday, fleeing for the mainland with his wife and pup, Gidget, following close behind in a second car.
They originally planned to hunker down but thought better of it.
Maybe the storm would take their house, but Schoeppner wasn't going to let it consume their gold Toyota Camry and black Ram 2500.
"We wanted to stick it out, but the storm surge is scaring us," he said moments before heading down Redfern Drive toward Waycross, where they plan to sleep in the camper attached to his truck. 'We are prepared but not that prepared."
Schoeppner was among many residents fleeing amid apocalyptic warnings from authorities.
In Glynn County, for example, officials are saying the hurricane could turn into a 1-in-500-year event with 9-foot storm surges carrying 25-foot high waves.
Conditions were expected to deteriorate throughout Friday with winds reaching up to 110 mph.
"Under the current forecast," Glynn officials said in a prepared statement Thursday evening, "total devastation of the barrier islands is possible and portions of F.J. Torras Causeway and Jekyll Island Causeway may be completely lost."
Jay Wiggins, Glynn County's top emergency official said Friday that those who did not comply with mandatory evacuation orders in in the county should immediately take shelter and not try to flee. The county has stopped dispatching emergency workers because the conditions outside are so dangerous, Glynn said.
"This is an amazing storm surge event. It could be very catastrophic for us here," Wiggins said after receiving a briefing from the National Weather Service.
Many of the stores on St. Simon are shuttered, boarded up or lined with sandbags. Someone got creative at the Beachview Hand Books store, quoting William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on one of the shop's plywood shields: "Belike for want of rain, which I could well between them from the tempest of my eyes."
Another plywood board on the other side of the store put it more simply: "Matthew _ You can leave now."
George Gustavson decided to stay in his one-bedroom apartment on St. Simons Island, keeping one eye on his TV set and another on his laptop, which was showing real-time video of the island's blustery pier.
A retired computer salesman from Dunwoody, he had stocked up on cereal, milk and juice. Two Bibles sitting by his side, Gustavson added that he and a few neighbors were keeping an eye on each other and were prepared to drain the pool at their apartment complex if things go south.
"I have got everything I need here," said Gustavson, who moved here in January. "But I don't think we are going to have a problem. It is going a little bit east now. I think they overkill on all the news."
The pier that held Gustavson's attention drew several sightseers who were entranced by the roiling waters. A.J. Berry wanted to snap some photos of it all before he fled his home on the island.
"I got everything out of the garage and moved everything up to the top floor and taped up the windows and all that stuff," he said. "We are headed to Blythe Island right now and then maybe take off from there for parts unknown."
Joe Demaree of Brunswick showed up at the pier moments later to shoot some video with his phone.
"It's not quite as crazy as we thought it might be," he said. "We are being optimistic. We are going to hang out and hunker down."
