MIAMI — Hurricane Matthew will officially go down as the deadliest Atlantic hurricane in more than a decade.

The fierce Category 5 storm plowed across the Caribbean and up the Florida coast for 11 days last fall, and was blamed for killing 585 people directly and another 13 people indirectly. In Haiti, where most of the fatalities occurred, another 128 people are still missing. More than 3.7 million people fled their homes, with most on the southeast U.S. coast.

In its report issued Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center also assessed its own performance, giving itself good marks for tracking the storm’s path, but not so great for predicting intensity.

Matthew formed as a tropical storm Sept. 28 in a year that marked a major milestone: Florida’s first hurricane strike in 11 years by an earlier storm, Hermine. Matthew scooted up the coast of Florida for a day and a half, ultimately making landfall near Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Models used to determine the short-term track did better than the previous five-year average predicting Matthew as it veered closer. Early forecasts missed its rapid intensification.


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