Officials at Florida’s major airports are monitoring conditions as Hurricane Matthew approaches Florida.
On its website, Fort Lauderdale International Airport announced plans to close at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Officials advised travellers to check with individual airlines about flight plans.
READ MORE: Florida governor warns ‘this storm will kill you’ in plea to evacuate
In Miami, officials at Miami International Airport say they will continue monitoring the storm and warned of possible flight cancellations. On its website, officials noted that generally “airports don’t’ operate in sustained crosswinds that exceed 35 mph.”
WATCH: Hurricane Matthew expected to intensify; make landfall in Florida
On Twitter, Miami airport officials said 341 arrivals and 305 departures had been cancelled by mid-morning Thursday – or about 90 per cent of the daily flight schedule.
More than 2,600 flights have been cancelled between Wednesday and Friday as airlines anticipate the storm, according to flight tracking website Flightaware.com.
The Palm Beach International Airport website didn’t’ mention any flight suspensions but asked travellers to stay away.
In a note on its website, officials at Orlando International Airport say they plan to being “reducing flights into Orlando and altering schedules starting Thursday, lasting through Friday.” They advised travellers to contact individual airlines for flight plans.
READ MORE: Nearly 2 million US residents urged to evacuate ahead of Hurrican Matthew
The Jacksonville International Airport website also advises travellers to check flight status with the airlines before heading to the airport.
About 2 million people from Florida across Georgia to South Carolina have been encouraged to head inland and away from the most powerful storm to threaten the Atlantic coast in more than a decade. Matthew killed at least 16 people in the Caribbean as it sliced through Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas.
WATCH: Florida governor warns ‘this storm will kill you’ in plea to evacuate
“This is a dangerous storm,” Scott warned. “The storm has already killed people. We should expect the same impact in Florida.”
Hurricane Matthew is barrelling over the Bahamas and taking aim at Florida and was expected to near the Atlantic coast starting Thursday night. The Category 3 storm has top sustained winds of 201 km per hour.
Florida emergency officials said more than 3,000 people were already in 48 school-based shelters, mostly in coastal counties where evacuations both mandatory and voluntary were underway. Patients also were transferred from two Florida waterfront hospitals and a nursing home near Daytona Beach to safer locations.
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