Haiti devastated by Hurricane Matthew. At least 900 victims
Rights — di Andrea Barolini
The island of Haiti bore the brunt of Hurricane Matthew's passage. In the US, the evacuation of 2 million people was ordered.
Haiti devastated by Hurricane Matthew. At least 900 victims
The island of Haiti bore the brunt of Hurricane Matthew's passage. In the US, the evacuation of 2 million people was ordered.
Hurricane Matthew, the most violent in the past ten years, struck the Caribbean countries, sowing death and destruction. On Thursday 6 October it hit the centre of the Bahamas, caused numerous deaths in the Dominican Republic and around 900 victims on the island of Haiti. During the night between Thursday and Friday, the eye of the depression began tracking towards Florida, which the US government placed on alert along with Georgia and South Carolina. So far four victims have been recorded in the United States, while one million homes are without electricity.
Haiti: cities devastated and aid efforts hampered
It is precisely on Haitian territory that the situation appears most serious. The Interior Minister, François Anick Joseph, had stated in the first hours after the hurricane's passage that he had identified around 300 victims. But the toll has since tripled. The town of Roche-à-Bateau, in the south of the country, was "completely devastated", according to a local member of parliament.
The non-governmental organisation Care also stated that around 80 per cent of the buildings in Jérémie, the main town of the southern department of Grande Anse, home to approximately 30,000 people, were brought down by Matthew. "The telephone and power lines have been cut, the roads are strewn with rubble and the roof of the cathedral has been torn off. Access to the city is currently impossible and the population will soon run out of food supplies," said Jean-Michel Vigreux, the organisation's director.
DONATE: Help CARE deliver clean water & emergency supplies to #Haiti. shout.lt/bK576 #HurricaneMatthew
The situation is no different in Cayes, the country's third largest urban centre: rescue teams on the ground report a great many damaged houses, roofs torn off by the wind, and no electricity or drinking water available. Even the emergency services are struggling to make their way along the roads to reach residents: a bridge has collapsed on national highway number 2, the only route linking the city to the capital Port-au-Prince.
Hurricane Matthew heads towards Florida
Further north, in the United States, President Barack Obama ordered the evacuation of two million people, while simultaneously declaring a federal state of emergency. Nevertheless, some victims have already been confirmed by the authorities: two women struck by trees uprooted by powerful wind gusts, and two other people who were taken ill before rescue services were able to reach them in time.
Those who were unable to leave the at-risk areas took shelter in designated refuges while waiting for the strength of the storm to diminish once it made landfall (upon reaching American territory, winds could gust at more than 240 kilometres per hour).
Hurricane Matthew strengthens as it heads toward Florida on.wsj.com/2dOaxPn 🔓
Around 2,500 military personnel have been mobilised, while motorways, stations and airports are almost deserted. Obama declared on Saturday, however, that the danger had not yet passed: the risks are also linked to possible flooding.