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Matthew Weakens over US, Loses Hurricane Status

by VOA News

   The storm formerly known as Hurricane Matthew has lost its hurricane
   status, weakening to a post-tropical cyclone as it neared the end of a
   week-long charge through Caribbean islands and along the U.S. Atlantic
   coast that killed nearly 1,000 people, most of them in Haiti.

   The storm also flattened communities and wrecked agriculture in the
   Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas.

   Haiti has declared three days of national mourning, President Jocelerme
   Privet's office said, "in solidarity" with the parents and friends of
   the victims of Matthew and residents of the region who are suffering
   from the hurricane's impact.

   Watch: Hurricane Matthew viewed from International Space Station

   Matthew is moving northeastward over North Carolina's Outer Banks with
   maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour - half as strong as
   they were a week ago, but substantial enough for U.S. meteorologists to
   continue warning of the storm's danger.

   Serious flooding was reported in many areas along a 950-kilometer
   stretch of the U.S. East Coast from Florida north to North
   Carolina.U.S. President Barack Obama declared states of emergency in
   four states, where at least 15 deaths were reported due to the storm.

   A woman walks along flooded President Street after Hurricane Matthew
   slammed Savannah, Georgia, Oct. 8, 2016.

   He has also declared Florida a disaster area in the wake of the storm,
   providing federal aid to local governments.

   Matthew was the most powerful storm to hit the U.S. coast in nearly a
   decade, and one of the longest-lasting major hurricanes on record, but
   damage to property was much less than had been predicted.

   Officials photograph sections of highway A1A that were washed out by
   Hurricane Matthew, Oct. 8, 2016, in Flagler Beach, Florida.

   Casualties still rising

   The hurricane was at its most powerful when it ravaged the Caribbean
   nearly a week ago with winds of 235 kilometers per hour. Although more
   than 900 deaths have been reported in Haiti, many areas of that
   impoverished country have not yet been thoroughly surveyed.

   Haiti says 1.5 million people have been affected by the hurricane and
   350,000 are in need of immediate assistance as most are homeless.

   The U.S. military has been deploying aid to Haiti by air and sea, food
   and medicine as well as equipment, including heavy-lift helicopters,
   bulldozers, water-delivery vehicles and mobile operating rooms.

   A woman tries to get food at a shelter in the school Liliane Mars
   Dumarsais Estime after Hurricane Matthew in Les Cayes, Haiti, Oct. 7,
   2016.

   UNICEF says the conditions in Haiti are "perfect breeding grounds for
   waterborne diseases." Marc Vincent, UNICEF's representative in Haiti
   says, "Every day that goes by increases the threat of cholera."

   As Matthew passed over Haiti it also raked the eastern tip of Cuba. Few
   reports of casualties or damage have emerged since Tuesday, but the
   island nation is expected to need massive quantities of relief
   supplies.

   The Dominican Republic, which lies on the eastern half of Hispaniola
   Island, bordering Haiti, also felt Hurricane Matthew's power. The storm
   later coursed through the Bahamas before traveling north along the U.S.
   east coast, slowly weakening, but remaining just offshore until it made
   landfall in South Carolina Saturday.

   Haiti hit hardest

   Clean up from Hurricane Matthew continues in Jeremie, Haiti, Oct. 6,
   2016.

   '

   The catastrophic damage this week in Haiti was made worse because the
   impoverished country is still recovering from a devastating earthquake
   in 2010. Thousands of people who have been living in flimsy shelters
   since the earthquake saw those washed away by the hurricane, which also
   destroyed a bridge that is the only link between a large portion of
   southern Haiti and the rest of the country.

   Officials have warned the list of casualties will likely climb, perhaps
   significantly, as rescuers manage to reach remote villages.

   People walk down the streets next to destroyed houses after Hurricane
   Matthew passes Jeremie, Haiti, Oct. 5, 2016.

   Video images from Haiti showed entire landscapes of metal shanties that
   lost their roofs in the winds and driving rains, along with downed
   trees and fields of mud from overflowing rivers.

   CARE Haiti director Jean-Michel Vigreux said one Haitian town with a
   population of 30,000, Jeremie, "is completely destroyed."

   The International Red Cross has issued an emergency appeal for $6.9
   billion in relief aid for Haiti, the poorest country in the Western
   Hemisphere.