Massive hurricane closes in on major Caribbean islands
KINGSTON, Jamaica — One of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history weakened a little yesterday as it drenched coastal Colombia and roared across the Caribbean 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 from a peak of 160 mph to a still-potentially devastating 140 mph and it was expected to near Jamaica and southwestern Haiti early tomorrow.
The forecast track would carry it across Cuba and into the Bahamas, with an outside chance of a brush with Florida, though that would be several days away.
“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 region 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. Authorities say that at least 27 houses were damaged and two roads were washed out. One person, a 67-yearold indigenous man, was carried away to his death by a flash flood in an area where it hadn’t rained for four years.
The U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is also potentially in the path of the storm. A mandatory evacuation of non-essential personnel, including family members of military personnel was underway yesterday. There are about 5,500 people living on the base, including 61 men held at the detention center.
Forecasters said rainfall totals could reach 10 to 15 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 25 inches in Jamaica and southwestern Haiti.