State of Emergency Declared as Hurricane Matthew Approaches US

This NOAA satellite image taken Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016 at 12:45 AM EDT shows well defined Hurricane Matthew continuing to slowly move westward at about 7 MPH across the Caribbean. Recent reconnaissance missions have revealed max sustained wind speeds up to 160 MPH, bringing Matthew up to a category 5 hurricane. Some of the outer bands can be seen pushing into Hispaniola, as well as Venezuela and Columbia. Matthew is expected to begin its northward turn over the next few days, largely impacting Jamaica next. (NOAA/Weather Underground via AP)

RALEIGH, N.C.—Gov. Pat McCrory has declared a state of emergency for 66 counties in central and eastern North Carolina as Hurricane Matthew begins a course which could take it along the East Coast.

McCrory told a news conference on Monday that he made the declaration at the request of N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. The governor said the declaration will immediately help farmers clear their fields of crops already impacted by heavy rain over the last two weeks. He said he doesn’t want other crops ruined, so truck weight restrictions and hours of service are lifted under the emergency declaration to allow farmers to take their harvest to market.

The governor said he didn’t want farmers to wait until Thursday to begin work if the storm is close to North Carolina.

“We’re taking this storm very seriously,” Gov. McCrory said on Monday. “Even though this storm is several days out, we still don’t know exactly what the storm track will be.”

“Right now the time track and intensity could very well change as it moves up past the eastern coast of the United States,” Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry said.

Epoch Times contributed to this report.