Weather Channel Warns on Matthew: 'This Is Not Hype'

"This is like no storm in the record books," Business Insider quotes a Weather Channel hurricane specialist as saying. "This is not hype. This is not hyperbole, and I am not kidding." A mandatory evacuation has been declared for approximately 1.5 million Florida residents as Hurricane Matthew is expected to hit the state Friday, the AP reports. Despite a declared state of emergency, some residents are ignoring warnings from police and staying put.

Hurricane Matthew is expected to be the most powerful storm to hit the Atlantic coast in at least a decade. And no hurricane of its size has hit Florida in this lifetime. The storm's winds are currently being clocked at 140mph. The situation is so dire that Disney World, Universal Studios, and SeaWorld have all made the rare decision to close down through Friday. There are also mandatory evacuation orders in Georgia and South Carolina. (More Hurricane Matthew stories.)