Ocean County Teens Drive Into The Teeth Of Hurricane Matthew: Report

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL — A weather-obsessed Ocean County teenager and a friend hopped in the car and drove to Florida to see Hurricane Matthew's fury up close, according to a report.

Lucio Bottieri, 18, of Jackson, and his friend, Bailey Lilienkamp, also 18, packed food, a first-aid kit and bottled water and left Thursday for St. Augustine, according to an Associated Press report published by Philly.com.

Nearly 2 million people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have been warned to evacuate ahead of the storm, with governors in all three states warning the storm will be deadly. More than 500 people were killed in the Caribbean, particularly in Haiti, as Matthew moved through, according to a Reuters report. The death of a 58-year-old woman in Florida has been attributed to the hurricane as well, according to reports.

"I have an obsession with severe weather, snowstorms, hurricanes tornadoes, anything crazy that most people wouldn't go towards," Bottieri told the Associated Press. "I've been obsessed since the 2005 hurricane season when there was storm after storm after storm."

"My mom was really against my trip. I had to keep talking to her to calm her fear," Bottieri said, and while other friends tried to talk him out of it, Lilienkamp agreed to join him.

They drove straight through to arrive in St. Augustine just as the storm arrived, according to the report.

Read more here.

A NOAA satellitte image of Hurricane Matthew Friday afternoon. St. Augustine is just south of Jacksonville, Fla. Map via Google Maps