Over 3,800 Flights Cancelled in US As Hurricane Mathew Approaches

Florida Governor Rick Scott has asked people to evacuate saying the hurricane is deadly.

People in Haiti pick up after Hurricane Matthew. (Photo: AP)

Bracing for a category four Hurricane Mathew, which left around 269 people dead in Haiti, airlines and airports in the US are on an war footing. Around 3,862 flights have been scheduled to be cancelled between Wednesday and Saturday.

Hurricane Matthew was forecast to make landfall on early Friday, between West Palm Beach and Cape Canaveral in Florida, NBCNews reported.

Also read: Hurricane Matthew Leaves 370 Dead; Emergency in Florida, Georgia

Meanwhile, the hurricane began tropical storm conditions in Florida – with potentially catastrophic hurricane strike and "sandy-like" storm surge for parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

Although, the Miami International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport planned to remain open, the commercial scheduled flights were halted.

Even if the airports and airlines wanted to ensure quick restoration of schedules, in an extremely rare move, Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport shut down for the first time since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

As of Thursday evening, 3,862 flights were cancelled between Wednesday and Saturday, according to FlightAware.com.

The storm had regained category four strength, with winds of 145 mph expected at landfall.

Florida Governor Rick Scott had warned on Thursday that the impact would be "catastrophic" and had urged 1.5 million people to evacuate.

This storm is a monster, this storm will kill you.

"Matthew is likely to produce devastating impacts along portions of the east coast."

Scott had urged residents across the state's 580-mile Atlantic coastline to brace for the worst

(With inputs from IANS)