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‘All tore up’: 3 dead as Matthew leaves big mess in Georgia

Bull River Yacht Club Dock Master Robert Logan leaves the dock after finishing up storm preparations as Hurricane Matthew makes its way up the East Coast, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. Authorities warned that the danger was far from over, with hundreds of miles of coastline in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina still under threat of torrential rain and dangerous storm surge as the most powerful hurricane to menace the Atlantic Seaboard in over a decade pushed north. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)
Bull River Yacht Club Dock Master Robert Logan leaves the dock after finishing up storm preparations as Hurricane Matthew makes its way up the East Coast, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. Authorities warned that the danger was far from over, with hundreds of miles of coastline in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina still under threat of torrential rain and dangerous storm surge as the most powerful hurricane to menace the Atlantic Seaboard in over a decade pushed north. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton) Bull River Yacht Club Dock Master Robert Logan leaves the dock after finishing up storm preparations as Hurricane Matthew makes its way up the East Coast, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Savannah, Ga. Authorities warned that the danger was far from over, with hundreds of miles of coastline in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina still under threat of torrential rain and dangerous storm surge as the most powerful hurricane to menace the Atlantic Seaboard in over a decade pushed north. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)

By Associated Press 4 min read

TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (AP) – Hurricane Matthew left a pattern of destruction in Georgia that was sometimes hard to fathom, with beachfront condos weathering the storm without a broken window while falling trees killed three people as far as 70 miles from the coast.

Overall the storm failed to deliver the devastation local officials had feared as it raked Georgia’s 100-mile coastline overnight Friday before passing Saturday morning. But it left plenty of misery in its wake.

Savannah-Chatham County police said a man was killed after a tree fell crashing into his house. In Bulloch County, 70 miles inland, Deputy Coroner Richard Pylant confirmed a 68-year old man who was at home alone died after two falling trees sent his ceiling collapsing on top of him. A third man, also in Bulloch County, died when he crashed into a tree that fell in front of his car.

Shattered limbs and burly live oaks ripped from the ground by their roots littered Savannah’s downtown historic district. Some neighborhoods flooded near inland waterways swollen with rain and coastal surge. Snapped power lines made many roads impassable and left thousands without electricity across the city.

And thousands who evacuated ahead of the storm were now being told to stay away – for how long wasn’t known – as roads get cleared and downed electrical lines repaired.