CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE MATTHEW THREATENS CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE IN HAITI

The strongest Atlantic hurricane for nearly a decade threatens to bring catastrophic rainfall to Haiti and parts of southwestern Dominican Republic in the coming days. Hurricane Matthew, a category 4 hurricane, is expected to dup between 15 and 25 inches of rain on southern Haiti, with isolated areas seeing up to 40 inches. The level of rainfall, alongside accompanying storm surge and wind damage, could bring widespread flooding to much of Haiti, where thousands still live in tent camps following the major earthquake of 2010. The heaviest rain associated with the storm will be to the east of its centre, heightening the threat to Haiti. Matthew’s projected path brings the storm over Haiti’s southwestern tip and across eastern Cuba before reaching the Bahamas. A US landfall remains possible in the coming week. Forecasters expect Matthew to remain a major hurricane at least until Wednesday afternoon, by which time it will be centred over the southeastern Bahamas. The storm briefly reached category 5 status on Friday evening, the first category 5 storm to form in the Atlantic basin since 2007.