Hurricane Matthew yesterday pummeled Haiti and moved on to Cuba after killing nine people, unleashing floods and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the Caribbean’s worst storm in nearly a decade.
Far to the north, the first evacuations were ordered in the US as coastal residents prepared to escape the approaching monster storm.
The death toll stood at nine — five in Haiti and four in the Dominican Republic — but was certain to rise as Matthew bruised its way north.
Photo: AFP
The full scope of the damage, both human and material, remained unclear. Civil protection officials in Haiti said they were struggling to communicate with the south after Matthew’s furious wind and rain blew down telephone lines.
A partial assessment of the damage, which excluded the department of Grand’Anse, which was in the direct eye of the storm, indicated that 14,500 people have been displaced and 1,855 homes flooded. Those numbers were expected to increase once communication is reestablished with the area.
The collapse of a bridge cut off the only road linking Port-au-Prince to the peninsula that makes up southern Haiti.
“It is going to be difficult to find an alternative route,” civil protection spokesman Edgar Celestin said.
One person has been reported missing and 10 injured so far across Haiti, officials said.
Next in line, Cuba was hit late in the afternoon on its eastern tip.
The storm’s eye made landfall at about 12am GMT, but was already moving off the island’s northeastern coast just three hours later, heading north at 13kph, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Americans girded for a taste of nature’s fury. Florida, South Carolina and parts of North Carolina have declared states of emergency, and South Carolina said it would start evacuating 1.1 million people from its coast yesterday and try to get them at least 160km inland. Georgia declared a state of emergency in 13 counties.
“It’s not going to be a fast evacuation. It could take up to several hours,” South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said. “If you can leave early, do that.”
EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
Matthew made landfall in Haiti shortly after daybreak as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm near the southwestern town of Les Anglais, packing top winds of about 230kph, the NHC said.
It marked the first time in 52 years that a Category 4 storm made landfall in Haiti.
Even before making landfall along the southern edge of a jagged peninsula on Hispaniola — the island that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic — Matthew was blamed for at least three deaths in Haiti. Two additional deaths have since been reported, with fears that the toll could climb.
Four more deaths have been reported in the Dominican Republic, where officials said 200 homes were damaged.
After Cuba, the storm was expected to hit the Bahamas, moving through the islands through today, the NHC said.
It was forecast to dump 380mm to 630mm of rain over southern Haiti with up to 1m possible in isolated areas, and has been blamed for triggering mudslides.
The key port of Les Cayes, the country’s third city is “very seriously damaged,” said Hervil Cherubin, Haiti director for the aid group Heifer International.
“Most roofs of houses, shops, gas stations are all gone. Businesses near the ocean have totally disappeared, washed away,” he added, with farms having “disappeared” and livestock killed.
The country is home to almost 11 million people, many living in fragile housing.
Thousands are still living in tents in Haiti after the country’s massive earthquake in 2010. Erosion is especially dangerous because of high mountains and a lack of trees and bushes in areas where they have been cut for fuel.
More than 9,000 Haitians were evacuated to temporary shelters at schools and churches, the Haitian Ministry of the Interior said.
Hover, civil protection forces have struggled with locals who refused to leave some of the most vulnerable areas, where residents face serious flooding risks.
Schools are to remain closed until Monday, but authorities have not said whether presidential and legislative elections scheduled for Sunday will still take place.
DELUGE AND MUDSLIDES
Matthew already holds the longevity record for a Category 4 and 5 hurricane in the Caribbean, according to meteorologist Philip Klotzbach of the Colorado State University.
Officials reported significant flooding and waves up to 5m in coastal villages in the east of Cuba, but no casualties so far.
Cuban authorities evacuated about 1.3 million people.
One stalwart who stayed, 63-year-old Roberto Gates, ventured out to buy rum.
“I have food for today and tomorrow, and then we’ll see,” he said.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) dispatched an elite disaster response team to the Bahamas, Haiti and Jamaica.
It is also sending US$400,000 in assistance to aid groups in Haiti and Jamaica and emergency relief supplies including blankets, plastic sheeting and water containers.
The Pentagon said 700 family members of personnel were evacuated from the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, on Cuba’s eastern tip, over the weekend to Florida.
Forecasters predict the hurricane could hit the US east coast about midweek.
US President Barack Obama postponed a trip to South Florida, where he had planned to attend a campaign event in support of Democratic US presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
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