Viral: Officers spotted helping Florida residents during Hurricane Matthew

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Photo: Christopher Valicenti/Facebook 

Ahead of Hurricane Matthew battering Florida's east coast, a Florida man shared several photos on Facebook, which have quickly gone viral. 

Christopher Valicenti, of Port Saint Lucie, was preparing for the most powerful hurricane to threaten the Atlantic Seaboard in over a decade Thursday morning when he said four police cruisers were spotted in his neighborhood. 

"Cop cars on my block just driving around," Valicenti said. "Helping anybody who needs help."

Valicenti snapped two pictures of the kindhearted cops. In one photo, two officers are helping a local man board up his home and the second picture shows patrol cars lined up along a street. 

The post has more than 8,000 likes and has been shared more than 27,000 times. 

In the end, Matthew sideswiped Florida's Atlantic coast early Friday, swamping streets, toppling trees onto homes and knocking out power to more than 1 million people. However, it stayed just far enough offshore to prevent major damage to cities like Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. 

At least four people died in Florida, including an elderly St. Lucie County couple. They died from carbon monoxide fumes while running a generator in their garage and two women were killed in separate events when trees fell on a home and a camper.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.