Hurricane Matthew – 400 confirmed dead and body count still rising

The death toll in Haiti caused by Hurricane Matthew – the most devastating hurricane in a decade – has reached 400 and is expected to climb even higher.

It has left a trail of death and destruction in its path with hundreds of thousands of the people on the island left homeless.

Senator Herve Fourcand from southern Haiti says “at least” 400 people are dead with unconfirmed reports putting the death toll at 478.

It has been estimated by aid organisations that at least 350,000 people are urgently in need of assistance throughout Haiti.

Killed

A top priority is to get phone networks back up and running and aid workers are very concerned about a surge in cholera cases, with the sanitation system in Haiti already overwhelmed.

In Sud province 30,000 homes were flattened, the city of Jeremie suffered the destruction of 80% of its buildings and 50 people were reported killed in the town of Roche-a-Bateau alone.

The nearby city of Jeremie saw 80% of its buildings levelled. In Sud province 30,000 homes were destroyed.

Most of those killed lived in fishing villages and small towns around the southern coast where falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers all added to the death toll.

Collapse

Phone coverage and electricity is down in large parts of Haiti, people are running out of food and water  and the collapse of a vital bridge combined with torrential flooding is hampering rescue operations.

The Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal for $6.9m to provide medical, shelter, water and sanitation assistance to 50,000 people while the US is sending nine military helicopters to help deliver food and water to the hardest-hit areas.

Meanwhile Matthew is currently battering the coastline of Florida with sustained winds of 120mph and this morning it was hugging the Florida coast, about 35 miles east of Daytona Beach.

Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have all declared states of emergencies and at least three million inhabitants have been ordered to evacuate their homes.

More than half a million homes have lost power in Florida and the biggest fear now is the possibility of storm surges of 9ft or more.

Exactly what Hurricane Matthew will do next remains uncertain but the latest predictions suggest that it will hug the coast of Georgia and South Carolina over the weekend before heading out to sea.

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