Hurricane death toll passes 800
AS the death toll from Hurricane Matthew reaches at least 874 in Haiti alone, a million people have been left without power in Florida as the storm heads north towards Georgia and South Carolina.
Early yesterday, the National Hurricane Centre said Matthew had sustained winds of 177km/h, making it a very powerful Category 2 storm.
At one point, Matthew reached the strongest Category 5 designation.
People across southwest Haiti were digging through the wreckage of their homes on Friday, salvaging what they could of their meagre possessions after the devastating hurricane killed hundreds of people and created a new crisis for the impoverished country.
Aid has begun pouring into the hard-hit town of Jeremie, where thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and many people were running low on food and facing an increased risk of cholera.
Dozens of young Haitians came to the small airstrip along the coast to watch as a helicopter was unloaded with crates of food and water.
“My home is totally wrecked and I heard they were bringing food,” said 22-year Richard David, one of those who came to the airport. “I haven’t had anything but water today and I’m hungry.”
Air traffic was severely disrupted in the southern states of the US with at least 4500 flights cancelled between Wednesday and yesterday, according to tracking service FlightAware.
All flights to and from Orlando were cancelled on Friday and half scrapped yesterday. FlightAware expects that number to rise.
Orlando’s world-famous theme parks – Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld – all closed due to the storm.
But the storm’s worst “is likely still to come”, US officials have warned.
“This storm is a monster,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said at a Friday evening news conference.
“Matthew is likely to produce devastating impacts along portions of the east coast tonight.”
At least four people died in Florida. An elderly St. Lucie County couple died from carbon monoxide fumes while running a generator in their garage and two women were killed in separate events when trees fell on a home and a camper.
While the hurricane was weakening quickly, several northeastern Florida cities, including Jacksonville, were still in harm’s way, along with communities farther up the coast. Authorities warned that not only could Matthew easily turn toward land, it could also cause deadly flooding with its surge of seawater.
About 500,000 people were under evacuation orders in the Jacksonville area, along with another half-million on the Georgia coast.
“My home is totally wrecked”