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Reuters

The fiercest Caribbean storm in almost a decade ripped into Haiti’s southwestern peninsula early on Tuesday, packing 230km/h winds and storm surges that killed at least one person and damaged homes.
The eye of the violent Category 4 storm was just off the western tip of Haiti at 5am (0900 GMT), the US National Hurricane Centr said, pounding coastal villages with strong gusts.
One man died when a wave crashed through his home in the beach town of Port Salut, Haiti’s civil protection service said. He had been too sick to leave for a shelter, officials said.
Overnight, Haitians living in vulnerable coastal shacks on the Tiburon Peninsula frantically sought shelter as Hurricane Matthew closed in, bringing heavy rain and driving the ocean into seaside towns.

“This storm surge will also limit rainfall run off in some places, aggravating flooding, especially in coastal locations where swollen rivers cannot drain,” Weather Underground forecaster Jeff Masters said in a blog.
Up to three feet of rain is forecast to fall over denuded hills prone to flash floods and mudslides, threatening villages as well as shanty towns in the capital Port-au-Prince, where heavy rain fell overnight. “Life-threatening rain, wind and storm surges” was spreading over parts of the country, the hurricane centre said in its advisory.
The outer bands of the cyclone had already reached the area late on Monday, flooding dozens of houses in the town of Les Anglais when the ocean rose, the local mayor said. In the town of Les Cayes on the southern coast, the wind bent trees and the power went out.

“We have gusts of wind hitting the whole area and the people have fled to a shelter,” said Les Anglais mayor Jean-Claude Despierre. In Tiburon, another town nearby, the mayor said people who had been reluctant to leave their homes also ran for cover when the sea rose.
“Everyone is trying to find a safe place to protect themselves, the situation is very difficult,” mayor Remiza Denize said, describing large waves hitting the town.
Poor Haitians are often loath to leave home in the face of storms, fearing their few belongings will be stolen.
Civil protection authorities said 130 children were evacuated by bus to a high school in the capital from an orphanage in the shoreside Cite Soleil slum, made up of tin shacks and open sewers and known as Haiti’s largest shanty town. On the north coast, about 300 detainees were transferred from their prison near the sea in the town of Jeremie, the interior ministry said.

The cyclone comes at a bad time for Haiti, where tens of thousands of people still live in tents after a 2010 earthquake that killed upwards of 200,000 people.
Cholera introduced by UN peacekeepers is expected to rise in the October rainy season, and the country was due to hold a long-delayed presidential election on October 9.
The office of Interim President Jocelerme Privert said there was no change to the election date.
Crawling north at about 15km/h, the strongest storm since Hurricane Felix in 2009 threatens to linger long enough for its winds and rain to cause great damage in Haiti, where it will spend much of the day before hitting Cuba and the Bahamas later on Tuesday.

It will possibly reach Florida by Thursday as a major hurricane, though weaker than at present, the hurricane Centre said. Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for Florida on Monday, designating resources for evacuations and shelters and putting the National Guard on standby.
In Les Cayes about 150 people huddled without electricity or food in the town’s largest shelter, a school.
Caribbean braces for impact as massive Hurricane Matthew
“Since yesterday we’ve had nothing ... We must sleep on the floor ... Everyone is hungry,” said Erick Cange, a 69-years-old, a resident of the La Savanne neighbourhood surrounding the school.
The conditions in the shelter compared unfavourably with Haiti’s neighbour Cuba, where authorities spent days organising teams of volunteers to move residents to safety and secure property.
The storm is expected to make a direct hit later on Tuesday in the province of Guantanamo, the disputed home to a US Naval base and military prison but also a small Cuban city.

“Food is guaranteed and we have a generator that will guarantee that the kitchen keeps on working in case of a power cut,” said Alexis Iglesias, head of the evacuation committee at Guantanamo University which was being used as shelter, where some 400 people were staying.
The US Agency for International Development said on Monday it was providing a combined $400,000 in aid to Haiti and Jamaica. The agency said in a statement it had pre-positioned relief supplies and was preparing to ship in additional supplies to the central Caribbean.



Hurricane Matthew slams into western Haiti with deadly waves

A woman adjusts a plastic cap ahead of Hurricane Matthew in Les Cayes, Haiti. Photo: Reuters

TOPSHOT - Partial view of the coastline of Santo Domingo, near the Port of Haina on October 3, 2016 as strong winds and rain are expected in the next few hours in Dominican Republic. Hurricane Matthew claimed its first victims, officials said Monday, leaving one dead and one person missing in Haiti as it churns through the Caribbean as the most menacing storm in nearly a decade. / AFP PHOTO / Erika Santelices

TOPSHOT - Residents of the Cuban community of Cecilia, in Guantanamo Province, are evacuated on October 3, 2016 as Hurricane Matthew claimed its first two victims in Haiti - one killed and one missing - as it churns through the Caribbean as the most menacing storm in nearly a decade. As the Category 4 hurricane creeps closer, Cuba, in the likely path of destruction, ordered the evacuation of more than 250,000 people from the east of the island. / AFP PHOTO / Yamil LAGE

A general view while Hurricane Matthew approaches Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Two women protect themselves from rain with an umbrella ahead of Hurricane Matthew in Les Cayes, Haiti, October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

People buy goods on the street while Hurricane Matthew approaches Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

TOPSHOT - A fisherman looks at the sea in Caira beach, in the commune of Leogane, to the southwest from Port-au-Prince, on October 3, 2016. Hurricane Matthew has left one person dead and another missing in Haiti, officials said Monday, as it churns through the Caribbean as the worst storm in nearly a decade.A boat with three fishermen capsized Friday off the coast of southern Haiti. Two managed to make it ashore but the body of the other was found later, civil protection authorities said. / AFP PHOTO / HECTOR RETAMAL

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