Barbados Today

Five people have been confirmed dead and 10 injured as a result of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, the country’s Office of Civil Protection said today.

Spokesman Edgar Celestin said authorities are still compiling an assessment of the storm’s impact, especially in Grand’Anse which remains cut off because of no cellphone service.

At least 1,855 homes were flooded, affecting 2,700 families. The number of people who were evacuated and went into shelters rose from 9,000 to 15,623.

The storm battered Haiti’s southern peninsula while unleashing heavy rains and winds around the country.

“There isn’t any place that hasn’t been impacted,” Jean Wilson Hippolite, a member of Haiti’s Lower House of Parliament, said about the city of Leogane, located in the West Department. “A lot of farms have been destroyed.”

Across the country in the northwest, the storm also flooded homes and streets.

“Trees have fallen and homes are destroyed. The majority of farms have been leveled,” parliamentarian Jean-Michel Moise had tweeted as the storm passed near the country’s northern coast.

The rains and strong winds continued in Bombardopolis this morning as trees continued to fall and rivers rise. The Meteorological Service warned Haitians that the risk of flooding continues even as the weather subsides in some places of the country, like the capital.

Yesterday, interim Haiti President Jocelerme Privert launched a call for solidarity with victims of Matthew, telling them that the government “will do everything possible to bring you support, food, water and medicines.”