As of 5 p.m. ET on Friday, Hurricane Matthew is a Category 2/3 storm, with winds topping out at 110 miles per hour. The eye is centered 40 miles east of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., and 135 miles southeast of Savannah, Ga. Matthew is moving northwest at 12 miles per hour, and a hurricane warning is currently in effect for Flagler County, Fla. all the way to Surf City, N.C.
South Florida seems to have been spared by Matthew, and correspondents who had been reporting from West Palm Beach and points south are now traveling towards Jacksonville, coastal Georgia and Charleston, S.C. today. Here’s an update on where TV news correspondents are positioned:
The Weather Channel has Jim Cantore, Janel Klein, Stephanie Abrams, Sam Champion, Reynolds Wolf, Ron Blome, Jen Carfagno, Mark Elliot, Maria LaRosa, Mike Bettes, Alex Wilson, Paul Goodloe, Mike Seidel and Chris Warren in the field. Cantore and Seidel are in Fort Pierce, Champion, Blome and Wolf in Juno Beach, Carfagno and Wilson in Daytona Beach, Abrams and Goodloe in Jacksonville, Warren, LaRosa and Bettes in Charleston, Klein in Brunswick, Ga., and Elliot in Savannah, Ga.
Scott Pelley is on the move. After anchoring the CBS Evening News from West Palm Beach last night, he will anchor the newscast from St. Augustine tonight. Other CBS News correspondents in the field include Errol Barnett, Manuel Bojorquez and Mark Strassmann in Florida, Omar Villafranca in the Bahamas, Jericka Duncan in Georgia, and Kris Van Cleave is in South Carolina. WBZ Chief Meteorologist Eric Fisher is also tracking Matthew. Reporters from CBS Newspath and CBS affiliate stations will also contribute.
Lester Holt will anchor NBC Nightly News tonight from Daytona Beach. Craig Melvin is anchoring MSNBC’s 2 p.m. hour from Titusville, Fla. Gadi Schwartz is also reporting from Titusville. Kerry Sanders, Gabe Gutierrez and Jacob Soboroff are in Jacksonville, Morgan Radford in Melbourne, Miguel Almaguer in St. Augustine, Mariana Atencio and Ron Mott in Daytona Beach, Blake McCoy in Fort Lauderdale, Chris Jansing is in Charleston, Dr. John Torres is embedded at the Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Rehema Ellis and Kevin Tibbles are in Savannah, Tom Costello at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and Tammy Leitner remains in Nassau, Bahamas.
David Muir is anchoring ABC World News Tonight from Jacksonville for a second straight night. ABC News correspondent Gio Benitez is reporting from West Palm Beach, Ginger Zee in Melbourne, Fla., Eva Pilgrim in Jacksonville, Marci Gonzalez and Lauren Lyster in New Smyrna Beach, Fla, Steve Osunsami in Savannah, Rob Marciano in Charleston, Mary Bruce on North Carolina/South Carolina border, and David Wright in Haiti.
CNN has 14 correspondents braving the elements, including Nick Valencia in Palm Beach, Michael Holmes and Jennifer Gray in Melbourne, Boris Sanchez and Sara Sidner in Daytona Beach, Chris Cuomo, Poppy Harlow, Victor Blackwell and Rosa Flores in Jacksonville, Ryan Young and Alison Kosik in Orlando, Stephanie Elam and Sara Ganim in Savannah, and Brian Todd in Charleston.
Fox News has Garrett Tenney in Jacksonville, Bryan Llenas in Sebastian Inlet, Fla., Leland Vittert in Daytona Beach, Rob Schmitt in Savannah and Jonathan Serrie in Charleston (Folly Beach). FNC correspondents Steve Harrigan and Phil Keating are also in Florida, and Fox Business’s Adam Shapiro is reporting from Daytona Beach.