Shell-shocked, emotionally distraught and displaced from their homes, the victims of Hurricane Matthew have clearly been through more than most of us dare to imagine. However, now their plight is being made all the worse by a series of scam artists bringing a bad name to the insurance industry.

Homeowner and auto insurers are dealing with thousands of claims in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. And some policyholders are discovering - or rediscovering - a hard truth: Standard homeowners’ policies typically do not cover flood damage, that is, damage from rising water.

Hurricane Matthew impaired or destroyed more than 1 million structures, forced businesses from Florida to North Carolina to close and put thousands temporarily out of work.

Hurricane Matthew has left at least 10 dead in North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory said Monday, pushing the death toll across the Southeast to at least 21 even as the weakening storm still carried dangers of flooding.

Hurricane Matthew has thousands fleeing the U.S. Southeast where it’s expected to batter the coastline and threaten electricity supplies to more than 1 million people in Florida. Potential losses are seen as high as $15 billion.

As predicted, Hurricane Matthew devastated the entire southern region of Haiti overnight with wind damage, flooding, houses which have been destroyed or washed away, landslides, power outages, and crop losses.

With Hurricane Matthew ready to slam the US in the next day or two, time is running out to get ready. "I cannot emphasize enough that everyone in our state must prepare now for a direct hit," Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday.

Air travelers were keeping a wary eye on Hurricane Matthew as forecasts continued to show it tracking toward the U.S. East Coast later this week. Underscoring the ominous forecast, several big U.S. airlines have extended their Matthew-related change-fee waivers to cover U.S. airports.

Authorities along the Georgia coast ratcheted up preparations for Hurricane Matthew, a dangerous Category 3 storm described by Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan as the strongest storm in the Atlantic in about 10 years.

Thousands of Americans were headed for higher ground Wednesday as deadly Hurricane Matthew crawled across the Caribbean and toward the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

Empty shelves and long gas-station lines were reported across the Southeast as coastal communities prepared Wednesday to flee deadly Hurricane Matthew.

The driver of an 18-wheeler involved in a fiery accident on I-95 in Florence County this week described the deputy that came to their aid as "an angel," in voice messages left for the Florence County Sheriff’s Office.

The Brenham, Texas-based company is once again worried about potential listeria contamination. Blue Bell said Wednesday that it is recalling packages of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Hurricane Hermine is likely to generate insured losses no greater than $500 million, a relatively low and certainly manageable figure, yet property/casualty carriers are by no means at ease, an industry analyst says.

A South Carolina man is looking for answers after his garage caught fire over the weekend. Horry County Fire Rescue investigators said the fire originated near a wall outlet where the man’s phone was charging. The phone was a Samsung Galaxy Note 7.