Obama: Matthew is still a dangerous storm

WASHINGTON — Although the heavy population centers of South Florida were not as seriously damaged by Hurricane Matthew as feared, President Obama said Friday it remains a dangerous storm.

"Do not be a holdout here," Obama said in the Oval Office, accompanied by Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Craig Fugate and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. "We can always replace property. We cannot replace lives.

"The big concern is the effect it could have in areas like Jacksonville and on through Georgia," Obama said.

Obama said he had talked to the governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and that they were doing an excellent job keeping on top of the storm's movements.

Storm surge, Obama said, remains the top concern. He cited Hurricane Sandy, which hit New Jersey and New York in 2012.

"Many of you will remember Hurricane Sandy, where initially people thought, this doesn't look as bad as we thought, and then suddenly you get massive storm surge and a lot of people were severely affected," Obama said. "And so I just want to emphasize to everybody that this is still a really dangerous hurricane; that the potential for storm surge, flooding, loss of life and severe property damage continues to exist.  And people continue to need to follow the instructions of their local officials over the course of the next 24, 48, 72 hours."

"This is still a really dangerous hurricane," Obama said.

The president expressed concern for Haiti, which was hit first by Matthew and suffered huge property damage and loss of more than 300 lives.

"Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world," Obama said. "It has consistently been hit and battered by a lot of natural disasters to compound what is already great poverty there. We know that hundreds of people have lost their lives and that there’s been severe property damage and they’re going to need help rebuilding. So I would ask all Americans to go the American Red Cross and other philanthropic agencies, to make sure that we’re doing what we need to do to help people in need."

The U.S. Agency for International Development has sent disaster teams to Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas, White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz said aboard Air Force One Thursday. About 150 Pentagon personnel are in Haiti, Schultz said, and "I suspect weather permitting that number will grow to a couple hundred over the weekend."