IANS
SANTO DOMINGO, OCTOBER 6
Hurricane Matthew moved toward the Bahamas and Florida’s eastern coast after killing at least 17 people and battering Haiti and Cuba with torrential rains.
The damage from the storm was so bad it forced Haiti’s electoral council to postpone Sunday’s presidential election.
The hurricane, described by UN officials as “the worst humanitarian crisis to hit Haiti since the 2010 earthquake”, whipped Cuba and Haiti with 230 km per hour winds on Tuesday.
The president of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council, Leopold Berlanger, said a new date for the presidential elections would be announced by next Wednesday at the latest after talks between various interested parties, France 24 reported.
The Category four hurricane struck towns, farmlands and resorts, toppled trees, power lines and at least one bridge - and left tens of thousands of Haitians without power.
According to NBC News, approximately 35,000 residents who lived close to the water went further inland before the storm hit. Cuban officials said these residents were either moved to higher ground with family or placed in shelters run by the state.
Hurricane and tropical storm warnings have been extended along a large stretch of Florida’s east coast ahead of Matthew’s forecast arrival on Thursday.
Over 2 mn ordered to evacuate in US
WASHINGTON: Over two million persons were ordered to evacuate from the US southeastern coastline ahead of the landing of Hurricane Matthew, with Florida’s Governor warning residents to “prepare for a direct hit”.
Residents of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida were braced for a possible impact from the storm, stocking up on supplies and boarding up homes, ABC news reported on Wednesday.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley planned to call for more evacuations, as Matthew is expected to be very near Florida’s Atlantic coast by Thursday evening.
Florida had urged about one-and-a-half million residents to leave the coast, an official said, while the number in Georgia is around 50,000.
The National Weather Service (NWS) advised that “loss of life” and “immense human suffering” were possible from strong winds for those who did not take heed of the precautions.
“Catastrophic damage” is also a possibility, and the storm could “leave areas uninhabitable for weeks,” the NWS announced on Wednesday.
Matthew struck the Bahamas after killing at least 22 persons in Haiti and four in the Dominican Republican on Tuesday. The storm weakened from a Category 4 hurricane after ploughing into Haiti and Cuba, where it left a trail of devastation.
Matthew was a dangerous and life-threatening Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 120 mph (190 kph) as it passed through the Bahamas.
The US military plans to send nine helicopters and 100 personnel to Haiti tomorrow to assist in aid efforts.
“In Haiti, the government reports that a number of persons have lost their lives and estimates that at least 350,000 people need immediate assistance,” UN Secretary General Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
Some 80 per cent of homes were damaged in Haiti’s Sud Department, which has a population of over 700,000, a government official said in a meeting with UN officials. Some 11,000 persons were in shelters in the province, the Telegraph reported.
