In the past 48 hours, the River City has taken on a new meaning as Hurricane Matthew presented life-threatening storm surge, which reached levels not seen in the area in nearly 120 years. As the nation’s largest city, covering 840 square miles, Jacksonville serves a population of 850,000 residents. Nearly half of them were evacuated Wednesday afternoon from the beaches and low-lying areas due to dangerous hurricane conditions. Federal, state and local officials are conducting 24-hour emergency operations to address the needs and impact of this historic storm.