Hurricane wreaks havoc in rural Haiti

HURRICANE Matthew has roared on to the south-western coast of Haiti, threatening a largely rural corner of the impoverished nation with devastating storm conditions.

The dangerous category-four storm made landfall around dawn local time on Haiti’s southern peninsula, where many people live along the coast in shacks of wood and corrugated steel that stand little chance of withstanding the force of the system’s maximum sustained winds of 145mph.

Matthew is also expected to bring 15-25in of rain, and up to 40in in isolated places, along with a 10ft storm surge and battering waves.

Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and spokesman for the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami, said: “They are getting everything a major hurricane can throw at them.”

The storm is moving along the Windward Passage between Haiti and Jamaica.

> People gathered on the coast around Jamaica to watch the massive rolling waves produced as Hurricane Matthew hurtled through parts of the Caribbean yesterday