Matthew menaces Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba
KINGSTON, Jamaica — One of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history roared over the open Caribbean Sea on Saturday on a course that threatened Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba.
Matthew briefly reached the top hurricane classification, Category 5, and was the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Felix in 2007.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Matthew’s winds had slipped slightly from a peak of 160 mph to a still-potentially devastating 150 mph, a Category 4 storm.
Matthew was expected to near eastern Jamaica and southwestern Haiti on Monday.
The latest forecast had Matthew’s path passing closer to Haiti than before, and the center issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica and “much of Haiti” and said life-threatening rainfall was expected in parts of the impoverished Caribbean nation.
The forecast track would carry the storm across Cuba and into the Bahamas, with an outside chance of a brush with Florida.
“It’s too early to rule out what impacts, if any, would occur in the United States and Florida,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman at the Hurricane Center.
As Matthew skimmed past the northern tip of South America there were reports of at least one death — the second attributed to the storm.
Authorities in the area overall breathed a sigh of relief as the storm triggered heavy flooding in towns along the La Guajira peninsula of Colombia, but damage overall was minimal.
Some officials were even grateful for the rain after a multiyear drought in the poverty-stricken area.
“The dikes and wells filled up, the earth is moist, and this benefits agriculture in an area where it hasn’t rained for five years, benefiting the community,” said La Guajira Gov. Jorge Velez.