Floridians Partying In Fort Lauderdale As Hurricane Matthew Tracking North Of Beachfront Town
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A party broke out in Fort Lauderdale as Hurricane Matthew stayed at sea and aimed well north of the beachfront town.
A huge crowd spent Thursday tossing back beers and singing at the Elbo Room. It's across the street from the beach and is known as a popular spot for spring breakers.
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A smaller crowd partied at another bar. And nearby, Kim Siegel pranced like a gazelle atop a beachside wall as a friend shot videos. Siegel says she was happy to just have a breeze after a hot summer.
About 800 people sought refuge in a shelter a few miles off the beach. It's unclear when they might get to go home, but forecasters say Matthew was tracking well north of the city.
The hurricane was instead expected to blow ashore -- or come dangerously close to doing so -- early Friday north of West Palm Beach, which has about 1.1 million people, and then slowly push north for the next 12 hours along the Interstate 95 corridor, through Cape Canaveral and Jacksonville, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Forecasters said it would then probably hug the coast of Georgia and South Carolina over the weekend before veering out to sea -- perhaps even looping back toward Florida in the middle of next week as a tropical storm.
The Haitian Interior Ministry said the hurricane killed 283 people on the impoverished island.
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