Hurricane Matthew has been upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane and wreaking serious havoc along the Florida, Georgia and North Carolina coastlines. Millions have lost power, death tolls are rising and people everywhere have been displaced from their homes. In other words, it’s really, really bad. The Coast Guard, Red Cross, etc. are all working on disaster relief, and Airbnb is also coming through in this time of crisis.
Much like the home-sharing site has done in previous occurrences of need, Airbnb has activated over 3,000 emergency listings in the South Carolina and Florida areas to help displaced residents for free. According to The Weather Channel, over 174,000 people have already been evacuated from South Carolina due to the tropical storm, and both voluntary and mandatory evacuations have begun several counties in Florida.
If you or any family or friends are in the area, we encourage you to seek out shelter, whether it is through Airbnb or elsewhere. If you need accommodations or are willing to open your home to people needing a place to stay, you can go to the disaster response page of Airbnb’s website here.
Stay safe out there!
(h/t Mashable, photos via Airbnb)