More than two million people in the US have been urged to evacuate their homes amid warnings Hurricane Matthew is strengthening and could cause 'loss of life' as it bears down on the East Coast.
Thousands of families have been caught in gridlock in Florida, the Carolinas and Georgia after fleeing their homes ahead of the storm - which is expected to strike Miami at around 2am on Friday and crawl northwards.
The powerful category-three hurricane, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, killed at least 22 people in Haiti and four in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday.
It is expected to intensify to a 'catastrophic' category-four hurricane when it batters southern Florida and moves further up the Atlantic coast into Georgia and South Carolina, the US National Hurricane Center said.
The National Weather Service has advised that 'loss of life' and 'immense human suffering' is possible for those who don't take precautions.
President Barack Obama warned: 'I want to emphasise to the public - this is a serious storm. If there is an evacuation order in your community, you need to take it seriously.'
'Just remember that you can always rebuild,' he added. 'You can always repair property. You cannot restore a life if it is lost and we want to make sure that we minimize any possible loss of life or risk to people in these areas.
The storm battered the Bahamas with 125 mph winds on Thursday morning as it continued on its destructive path towards America.
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