Hurricane Matthew is roaring towards the southern Bahamas after leaving widespread damage and human suffering in Haiti鈥檚 rural south-western peninsula where the hardest-hit area was cut off by flooding.
At least 11 people died during the storm鈥檚 week-long march across the Caribbean, five of them in Haiti, in what is being described as the 鈥渓argest humanitarian event鈥� there since the devastating earthquake of January 2010.
There is growing concern on the US East Coast, which is expected to be hit after Bahamas, with evacuation order issued in South Carolina and Florida preparing for a direct hit.
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Back in Haiti, a key bridge has been washed out, roads are impassable and phone communications are down, leaving the western tip of the country isolated and there is no word on numbers of dead and injured.
Total destruction
Hours after Matthew swept over the remote area with 230 km/h winds, government leaders said they could not fully gauge the impact in the vulnerable, flood-prone country where less powerful storms have killed thousands.
鈥淲hat we know is that many, many houses have been damaged. Some lost rooftops and they鈥檒l have to be replaced while others were totally destroyed,鈥� said interior minister Francois Anick Joseph.
After making landfall on Tuesday night near Cuba鈥檚 sparsely populated eastern tip with no immediate reports of major damage, the centre of the slightly weakened but still powerful storm moved back over open water.
Matthew had top sustained winds of 200 km/h and was heading north at 13 km/h. Forecasters reported tropical storm conditions were already spreading over the south-eastern Bahamas, with hurricane conditions expected in coming hours.
Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie voiced concern about the potential impact on the sprawling archipelago off Florida鈥檚 east coast. 鈥淲e鈥檙e worried because we do not control nature,鈥� he said.
US to be hit next
The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said winds had slightly decreased overnight as Matthew dropped from a Category 4 to a still powerful Category 3 storm, but forecasters warned such fluctuations in intensity were expected and Matthew remained a potent and dangerous storm.
There is growing concern on the US East Coast, which is expected to come under threat after the Bahamas. People raced to supermarkets, fuel stations and hardware stores, buying up groceries, water, plywood, tarpaulins, batteries and propane.
South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said she was issuing an evacuation order so a million people would have time to leave the coast. The Red Cross put out a call for volunteers.
Florida governor Rick Scott urged coastal residents to prepare for the possibility of a direct hit and line up three days鈥� worth of food, water and medicine. The White House said relief supplies were being moved to emergency staging areas in the south east.
Thousands in shelters
In Haiti, muddy rivers and tributaries continued to rise as water flowed down hillsides and mountains, making more flash floods and mudslides possible even as Matthew moves away.
Matthew was at one point a Category 5 storm, making it the most powerful hurricane in the region for nearly a decade. It blew ashore around dawn in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and a place where many people live in shacks of wood or concrete blocks.
Mourad Wahba, the UN secretary-general鈥檚 deputy special representative for Haiti, said at least 10,000 people were in shelters and hospitals were overflowing and running short of water. His statement called the hurricane鈥檚 destruction the 鈥渓argest humanitarian event鈥� in Haiti since the devastating earthquake of January 2010.
Surging waters ripped away a bridge in the flooded town of Petit Goave, preventing any road travel to the hard-hit south west. Local radio reported water shoulder high in parts of the southern city of Les Cayes.
