Hurricane soaks Colombia, heads toward Jamaica
KINGSTON, Jamaica — One of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history weakened a little on Saturday as it drenched coastal Colombia and roared across the Caribbean on a course that threatens 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. It is 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 also carry Matthew 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 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 multi-year drought in the poverty-stricken area.
Authorities say at least 27 houses were damaged and two roads were washed out. One person, a 67-year indigenous man, was carried away to his death by a flash flood in an area where it hadn’t rained for four years.
There was concern that heavy rain across much of Colombia this weekend could dampen turnout for a nationwide referendum Sunday on a historic peace accord between the government and leftist rebels.
In Jamaica, high surf began pounding the coast and flooding temporarily closed the road linking the capital of Kingston to its airport. Carl Ferguson, head of the marine police, said people were heeding calls to relocate from small islands and areas near rural waterways.
Feltgen said storm force winds and rain will arrive well before the center of the storm. Jamaicans “basically have daylight today, they have tonight and they have daylight tomorrow to take care of what needs to be done,” he said Saturday.
In Haiti, civil protection officials broadcast warnings of a coming storm surge and big waves, saying the country would be “highly threatened” from the approaching system.
Forecasters said rainfall totals could reach 10 to 15 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 25 inches in Jamaica and southwestern Haiti.
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 was under way.