Hurricane Matthew’s fierce winds were bound for the Bahamas Wednesday morning as the storm that has killed at least seven people took its last lashes at Haiti and continued to pound Cuba.
The damage was especially brutal in southern Haiti, where sustained winds of 125 mph continued to punish the impoverished island nation that saw trees topple to the ground and rain flood its streets Tuesday.
Mourad Wahba, the UN Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Haiti, described Matthew as the “largest humanitarian event” since the earthquake.
‘A total disaster’
At around 7 a.m. ET Tuesday, Matthew made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near Les Anglais, Haiti, according to the National Hurricane Center. Witnesses reported streets had flooded in the capital of Port-au-Prince, while heavy rains pelted the town of Les Cayes, according to Mayor Jean Gabriel Fortuné.
“We’ve already seen deaths. People who were out at sea. There are people who are missing. They are people who didn’t respect the alerts,” Interim Haitian President Jocelerme Privert said at a news conference.
While the final death toll remains uncertain, Haitian church pastor Louis St. Germain said heavy rain had caused Haitian waterways to swell. Speaking to CNN on the phone from Les Cayes, Haiti, he said the storm sheared a wall off his house and tore roofs off many buildings in the area.
“The river has overflowed all around us,” St. Germain said. “It’s terrible … a total disaster.”
Forecasters had predicted Haiti might receive up to 40 inches of rain — a disastrous amount for a nation still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.
“Much of the population is displaced and communication systems are down,” Wahba said. “We’ve received reports of destroyed houses and overflowing hospitals with shortages of buckets and fresh water. The hospital in Les Cayes has had its roof blown off by the force of winds.”
More than 300,000 people are now in shelters across the country, the United Nations said.
Once the storm passes, residents could face risks from another threat — standing water. Haiti is still recovering from a post-quake cholera outbreak that killed 10,000 people.
“Water is going to be a major issue,” said Jean Claude Fignole, Oxfam’s influence program director in Haiti. “Our priority is to get clean water and hygiene items to families as fast as possible to avoid a spike in cases of cholera. In the weeks and months to come, hunger is likely to emerge as big concern. Some crops in the South of the country have been totally destroyed.”
Death toll rising
At least seven people have died in incidents connected to Hurricane Matthew within the past week, authorities with multiple agencies said.
In Haiti, Guillaume Albert Moleon, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said one fisherman died on Sunday. A second fisherman is presumed dead, but the body has not been recovered.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a teenager died in a landslide as he was cleaning a drain behind his house, according to Michelle Forbes, deputy director for the National Emergency Management Office. The boy died Wednesday after storms from Matthew passed.
Four people in the Dominican Republic died, the government announced, offering no additional details about the victims’ causes of death.
Collision course for Cuba
As of 11 p.m. ET Tuesday, the eye of the hurricane was moving away from the Cuba’s east coast after skirting the tip of the island.
Hurricane conditions, though, still remained over the eastern part of the country, according to the hurricane center. CNN’s Patrick Oppman, who is based in Cuba, said Tuesday night the storm still could cause damage including flooding rains and landslides.
Forecasters had predicted that Matthew could dump up to 20 inches of rain in eastern Cuba.
The United States, taking no chances, airlifted 700 family members of military personnel stationed at Guantanamo Bay to Florida. The 61 detainees held by the United States as alleged enemy combatants will not be evacuated, officials added.
Bound for the Bahamas
Early Wednesday morning Matthew was about 80 miles west of the Bahamas. CNN meteorologists are expecting storm surges there as high as 15 feet, along with intense rains and damaging winds.
Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie cautioned at a news conference that Matthew had the potential to be “violently unpredictable.”
“The storm has strengthened and, from what we have seen in Haiti and elsewhere, is bringing dangerously strong winds and extremely heavy rains,” Christie said.
The Bahamas could receive up to 15 inches of rain and experience swells with “life-threatening” surf and rip current conditions, the hurricane center said.
“[We’ve made] sure we got water, we got non-perishable foods,” Bahamas resident Bruce Darville told CNN as he prepared for Matthew’s arrival. “We’ve got a generator so we make sure that’s all fueled up, make sure you’re vehicle’s fueled up. And we leave the rest to the good master.”
As the storm neared the Bahamas, officials in the US have taken steps to prepare for the storm’s arrival in the coming days. Governors in four southern states declared states of emergency.
Officials in some areas, including barrier islands in Brevard County, Florida, have ordered evacuations even with the storm still days away.
“We have to be prepared for a major hurricane,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said. “We have to prepare for a direct hit.”