At Least 283 Killed in Haiti by Hurricane Matthew

Pam Wright and Ada Carr
Published: October 6,2016

Officials in Haiti said at least 283 people have been killed in a devastating hit by Hurricane Matthew, which clobbered the Caribbean country on Tuesday.
Some 50 people reportedly died in the town of Roche-a-Bateau alone, according to BBC.

Officials were especially concerned about the department of Grand-Anse on the northern tip of the peninsula, where they believe the death toll and damage is highest, the Associated Press reports. The death toll officials reported did not include Grand-Anse or other nearby areas.

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"Devastation is everywhere," said Pilus Enor, mayor of the town of Camp Perrin. "Every house has lost its roof. All the plantations have been destroyed. ...This is the first time we see something like this."

"The situation is catastrophic," President Jocelerme Privert told The Miami Herald. "The situation is critical."
Thursday the Bahamas National Emergency Agency told the Associated Press that authorities have rescued at least 30 people who were trapped in their homes by floodwaters on the island of New Providence.
Haitian officials said more than 28,000 houses have been damaged so far but assessments are only in the initial stages.
"Everybody's house is destroyed, the people can't eat and have to drink coconut water to sustain them," Sen. Francky Exius, who is from Les Cayes, told the Miami Herald.

Men push a motorbike through a street flooded by a river that overflowed from heavy rains caused by Hurricane Matthew in Leogane, Haiti, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016. Rescue workers in Haiti struggled to reach cutoff towns and learn the full extent of the death and destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew as the storm began battering the Bahamas on Wednesday and triggered large-scale evacuations along the U.S. East Coast.
(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Reuters reports that many were killed by falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article106369527.html#storylink=cpydebris and swollen rivers.

"I've never seen anything like this," said Louis Paul Raphael, the town's delegate told Reuters.
(MORE: Track Hurricane Matthew)
Jean-Michel Vigreux, country director for CARE Haiti, said 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed in the town of Jeremie, in Grand Anse.
“All phone lines and electricity are down. Access is completely cut off, and everyone is running out of food and money. The bank is offline. Everyone is very shaken up,” he told The Miami Herald.

South Cut Off

With a key bridge washed away and roads impassable, workers have struggled to reach the worst-hit areas, reports the Associated Press. Communication has also been limited with phone lines cut off in the Grande Anse department.
Tuesday the Ladigue Bridge collapsed in Petit Goave, isolating southwest Haiti from the rest of the country, reports Haiti Libre.
Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of the civil protection agency, said authorities were starting to get a better view of the situation as workers began to find ways to get into southeast Haiti.
"We do know there's a lot of damage in the Grand Anse, and we also know human life has been lost there," Jean-Baptiste said, adding that the official death toll did not yet include reports from the worst-affected areas.

People stand in a street flooded by a nearby river overflowing from the heavy rains caused by Hurricane Matthew, in Leogane, Haiti, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016.
(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

The government has estimated at least 350,000 people need some kind of assistance after the disaster, which U.N. Deputy Special Representative for Haiti Mourad Wahba has called the country's"largest humanitarian event" since the devastating earthquake of 2010.(MORE: Southeastern U.S. Prepares for Possible Matthew Impacts)
The Department of Meteorology in Nassau had to be evacuated to the Nassau Airport after a window shutter came loose and the window was shattered by strong winds. Smith's Hotel also had to be evacuated after its roof was blown off, and Riu Palace sustained extensive exterior damage with part of the facade ripped off, exposing rooms.
Until workers can get to the victims, all officials can rely on at this point are the few sketchy details that trickle out of the southeastern parts of the country.
"What we know is that many, many houses have been damaged," Interior Minister Francois Anick Joseph told the Associated Press Wednesday. "Some lost rooftops and they'll have to be replaced, while others were totally destroyed."

A woman protects herself from the rain with a piece of plastic prior the arrival of Hurricane Matthew, in Tabarre, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 3, 2016.
(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Haiti's biggest banana growing region, Arcahaie, saw about 80 percent of its banana crops destroyed by winds and flooding, according to the Miami Herald.
Cenita Leconte, 75, a resident of Aquin, a south coast town outside the battered city of Les Cayes, ignored warnings to evacuate before the storm hit. Once the storm hit, she managed to 










































get to safety and said she is thankful she finally heeded advisories and lived through the ordeal. 
"We've lost everything we own. But it would have been our fault if we stayed here and died," she told The Associated Press as neighbors poked through wreckage hoping to find at least some of their meager possessions.
(MORE: How You Can Help the Victims in Haiti)
After a request for aid from Haiti, the United States deployed the U.S.S.George Washington carrier and the amphibious transport dock Mesa Verde, supported by Navy and Marine aviation, to provide relief to the ravaged country after the storm, along with the hospital ship Comfort, according to ABC 13.
The commander of U.S. forces in the Caribbean said Wednesday that nine U.S. military helicopters were being deployed to Haiti in response to the government's request for aid. Some are equipped for search-and-rescue or medical evacuation missions, and others to transport supplies.

A man sits inside of what is left of his home with his cousin after it was damaged by Hurricane Matthew in Saint-Louis, Haiti, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016.
(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Adm. Kurt Tidd told reporters at the Pentagon that his command is sending a one-star Navy admiral to Port-au-Prince to lead a "joint task force" to help coordinate humanitarian assistance and other storm-related relief. Between 150 and 200 U.S. military personnel are likely to travel to Haiti. Four deaths were recorded in the neighboring Dominican Republic, including three children, and one each in Colombia and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Two others were killed in Colombia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
A presidential election scheduled for Sunday has been suspended due to extensive damage from the storm. The Provision Electoral Council announced the postponement Wednesday but did not give a new date for the election.
MORE: Hurricane Matthew - October 2016