On Tuesday (Oct. 4), Category 4 storm, Hurricane Matthew, made a devastating landfall on Haiti. Winds powered through homes at 145 miles per hour, which has left thousands of people without shelter.
According to ABC News, the death toll has reached 10 with fears that it’ll continue to rise. U.N. secretary general’s deputy special rep for Haiti, Mourad Wahba, said that the country has entered a state of emergency.
“Haiti is facing the largest humanitarian event witnessed since the earthquake six years ago,” Wahba said. ABC also shares that a pilot flew over the coastline of Haiti to report on the damage.
“It’s wiped out. Barely 1 percent of houses are standing,” the pilot states. “The people are alive … they survived. But soon, they may starve. They’re cutoff.”
Hurricane Matthew is over 400 miles wide and could be the strongest storm to hit the U.S. in over 10 years. pic.twitter.com/IIWaZNiLCg
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 6, 2016
Aerial footage shows destruction along Haitian coast after #Matthew. “Barely 1% of houses standing,” pilot says. https://t.co/B18Gg2BwXkpic.twitter.com/xMQk6uzz3D
— ABC News (@ABC) October 6, 2016
With the fear of an increase in Cholera, a need for clean water to drink and bathe is at the top of the list for distribution in Haiti. Hurricane Matthew is still powering its force up the eastern coastline of the U.S., leading to evacuations in southern Florida as it heads there next. NBC reports nearly 1.5 million people have already evacuated “Atlantic coastal areas.”
UPDATE [1:08 p.m.]: According to the Associated Press, Haiti’s interior minister says the Hurricane Matthew death toll has now climbed to 108 people.
BREAKING: Haiti interior minister says in capital that death toll now at 108 from Hurricane Matthew.
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 6, 2016