SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Not everyone heeded the warnings to get out of Hurricane Matthew's path, and a former San Diegan chose to ride out the storm in her Daytona Beach home.
Krishna Cokal spoke with CBS News 8 Thursday evening and she was understandably very nervous. Cokal had previously lived in San Diego for 30 years.
Living a block away from the ocean, Cokal decided not to evacuate and instead went to bed Thursday night - afraid of what she was going to wake up to.
"Last night I really did not know what was going to happen and I was terrified. I woke up at two this morning when things were getting really hairy. Things started banging around - you could hear the wind outside really strong," she said.
Hours later, she lost power. Compared to what she feared might happen - the damage she has seen so far is minor. Her neighbors did not have the same luck.
"The neighbors lost their fences - bunch of trees too. Some trees are naked and broken and down on the ground," she said.
At 6 p.m. EDT, Matthew was centered about 40 miles east of Jacksonville Beach and 135 miles south of Savannah, and was moving north at 12 mph. Its wind speed had dropped to 110 mph, down from a terrifying 145 mph when it smashed into Haiti.
Airlines canceled at least 5,000 flights Wednesday through Saturday, including many in and out of Orlando, where all three of the resort city's world-famous theme parks - Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld - closed because of the storm.
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