• Hurricane Matthew churns towards Bahamas and Florida
• Millions urged to evacuate in US
• Florida told to prepare for ‘direct hit’
• Obama urges residents to heed warnings
• At least 22 dead in Haiti
• Large area of Haiti cut off

More than two million people have been ordered to evacuate from America’s Southeastern coastline ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Matthew, with Florida’s governor warning residents to “prepare for a direct hit”.

Matthew struck the Bahamas after killing at least 22 people in Haiti and four in the Dominican Republican on Tuesday.

“I want to emphasise to the public – this is a serious storm,” President Barack Obama said after a briefing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “If there is an evacuation order in your community, you need to take it seriously.”

Matthew was a dangerous and life-threatening Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 120 mph (190 kph) as it passed through the Bahamas, and it was expected to be very near Florida’s Atlantic coast by Thursday evening.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley planned to call for more evacuations on Thursday, which would bring the total to about 500,000 people in the state. Florida urged or ordered about 1.5 million to leave the coast, said Jackie Schutz, spokeswoman for Governor Rick Scott. Georgia had around 50,000 people told to go.

Officials warned that the death toll could climb significantly once the full extent of the damage in Haiti is known.

The storm carved a path of devastation through southwestern Haiti, dumping boats and debris on coastal roads hit by surging seas and heavily flooding residential areas.

Some 80 percent of homes were damaged in Haiti’s Sud Department, which has a population of more than 700,000, a government official said in a meeting with UN officials. Some 11,000 people were in shelters in the province.