The fiercest Caribbean storm in almost a decade ripped into Haiti's southwestern peninsula early on Tuesday with 145 mile-per-hour (230 kph) winds and storm surges that killed at least one person and damaged homes.
The eye of the violent Category 4 storm made landfall near Les Anglais on the western tip of Haiti at 7 a.m EDT, the US National Hurricane Center said, pounding coastal villages with strong gusts, Reuters reported.
One man died when a wave crashed through his home in the beach town of Port Salut, Haiti's civil protection service said. He had been too sick to leave for a shelter, officials said. A fisherman also was missing, they said.
Overnight, Haitians living in vulnerable coastal shacks on the Tiburon Peninsula frantically sought shelter as Matthew closed in, bringing heavy rain and driving the ocean into seaside towns.
About 3 feet (1 meter) of rain are forecast to fall over denuded hills prone to flash floods and mudslides, threatening villages as well as shanty towns in the capital Port-au-Prince, where heavy rain fell overnight.
Life-threatening flash floods and mudslides were likely in southern and northwestern Haiti, the hurricane center said. It expected Matthew to remain a powerful hurricane through at least Wednesday night.
The outer bands of the cyclone already had reached the area late on Monday, flooding dozens of houses in Les Anglais when the ocean rose, the mayor said. In the town of Les Cayes on the southern coast, the wind bent trees and the power went out.
