Hurricane Matthew left a trail of death and destruction as it crossed over Haiti and Cuba and made its way towards the Bahamas Wednesday morning.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami calls Matthew “extremely dangerous” and predicts it will remain a “powerful storm” at least through Thursday.
The storm weakened slightly after making landfall in Haiti, downgrading to a Category Three storm with sustained winds of 125 mph, but is expected to regain momentum as it barrels toward Florida’s southeastern coast.
Category 4 storm
At least nine people have been killed in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The worst storm the Caribbean has seen in nearly a decade is expected to make landfall along the U.S. east coast later this week.
Matthew was a powerful Category 4 storm when it slammed into Haiti Tuesday with winds of 230 kilometers per hour and fierce rain. It was the first time in 52 years that a Category Four storm made landfall in Haiti.
Southern Haiti is an isolated disaster zone after the storm destroyed power and telephone lines, and washed away the only bridge connecting the peninsula to the rest of the country.
Communications between the capital and three provinces are nonexistent, making it difficult for authorities and emergency workers to know the number of casualties and damage details.
But VOA Creole reporter Jean-Hernst Eliscar says many houses in the southern city of Les Cayes are flooded and have no roofs.
Mourad Wahba, U.N. deputy special representative for Haiti, said in a statement Tuesday that Hurricane Matthew has caused the biggest humanitarian crisis in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake, which killed more than 225,000 people. He said at least 10,000 people are in shelters.
US prepares for storm
Florida Governor Rick Scott has already declared a statewide state of emergency, warning residents to prepare for the worst.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has declared states of emergency in 13 coastal counties.
South Carolina’s Nikki Haley warned more than 1 million residents to prepare to evacuate. She said if the track of the hurricane does not change by Wednesday, she will issue an evacuation order for people to move away from the coast.
Matthew is the strongest hurricane to tear through the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea since Hurricane Felix in 2007.
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