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| Version 5 | Version 6 |
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| Hurricane Matthew: Struggle to reach worst-hit parts of Haiti | Hurricane Matthew: Struggle to reach worst-hit parts of Haiti |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Rescue workers in Haiti are struggling to reach parts of the country cut off by Hurricane Matthew, the most powerful Caribbean storm in nearly a decade. | Rescue workers in Haiti are struggling to reach parts of the country cut off by Hurricane Matthew, the most powerful Caribbean storm in nearly a decade. |
| The hurricane has caused extensive damage in Haiti, killing at least 23 people. Another four also died in the neighbouring Dominican Republic. | The hurricane has caused extensive damage in Haiti, killing at least 23 people. Another four also died in the neighbouring Dominican Republic. |
| A presidential election due this weekend in Haiti has been postponed. | A presidential election due this weekend in Haiti has been postponed. |
| The storm is now pounding the Bahamas. It is expected to intensify as it moves towards the US state of Florida. | The storm is now pounding the Bahamas. It is expected to intensify as it moves towards the US state of Florida. |
| Florida Governor Rick Scott said his state could be facing its biggest evacuation ever. | Florida Governor Rick Scott said his state could be facing its biggest evacuation ever. |
| Matthew battered a remote area of Haiti with winds of up to 230km/h (145mph) on Tuesday. The country is one of the world's poorest, with many residents living in flimsy housing in flood-prone areas. | |
| Mourad Wahba, the UN special representative for Haiti, said hospitals were overflowing. "Many, many houses have been damaged," Interior Minister Francois Anick Joseph said. | |
| "Some lost rooftops and they'll have to be replaced, while others were totally destroyed." | |
| Among the damaged buildings were schools and churches due to be used as polling stations in Haiti's election. A new date for the much-delayed vote has not yet been announced. | |
| Officials said they were not yet in a position to gauge the true extent of the damage - particularly in the Grand Anse area on the southern tip of the island, which was directly in the storm's path. | Officials said they were not yet in a position to gauge the true extent of the damage - particularly in the Grand Anse area on the southern tip of the island, which was directly in the storm's path. |
| A key bridge has been destroyed, roads are impassable and phone communications are down, officials said. | A key bridge has been destroyed, roads are impassable and phone communications are down, officials said. |
| At the scene: Tony Brown, BBC News, Haiti | At the scene: Tony Brown, BBC News, Haiti |
| We only began to see the real destructive force of Hurricane Matthew once we moved towards the south-west of the country. | We only began to see the real destructive force of Hurricane Matthew once we moved towards the south-west of the country. |
| Trees fallen, banana crops uprooted and flattened, houses under water and men and women trying to get the debris out of the way. | Trees fallen, banana crops uprooted and flattened, houses under water and men and women trying to get the debris out of the way. |
| It was noticeable how the people we passed were coping alone. There were no army or police around to help. | It was noticeable how the people we passed were coping alone. There were no army or police around to help. |
| Even the aid agencies are struggling to move around this damaged corner of the country. | Even the aid agencies are struggling to move around this damaged corner of the country. |
| Read more | Read more |
| Why Haiti is vulnerable to disasters | |
| Hurricane Matthew has left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean, but nowhere has the devastation been more severe than in Haiti. The country has accounted for 23 of the 27 deaths so far. | |
| The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has long been particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. Six years after an earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 1.5 million, tens of thousands of quake victims still live in temporary shelters. | |
| More than half of Haiti's city-dwellers live in overcrowded shantytowns that take the full force of any earthquake, hurricane, or disease outbreak. An ongoing cholera epidemic, triggered by the arrival of UN troops after the 2010 quake, has killed thousands of people. | |
| Massive deforestation has also led to soil erosion, leaving hillside huts and poorly-built houses in the capital, Port-au-Prince, dangerously exposed. The consequence in rural areas, where many depend on small plots of land for their food, is that topsoil is often washed away. In one town in south-west Haiti, a mayor told France's Le Monde newspaper that 80% of the farmland had been destroyed by Hurricane Matthew. | |
| Political instability and corruption have been a factor. Without effective government for decades, Haiti currently ranks 163rd out of the 188 countries on the UN Human Development Index. It spends little on storm defences. | |
| Hurricane scales | Hurricane scales |
| Category one: sustained winds of 74-95mph (119-153 km/h); some damage and power cuts | Category one: sustained winds of 74-95mph (119-153 km/h); some damage and power cuts |
| Category two: winds of 96-110mph (154-177 km/h); extensive damage | Category two: winds of 96-110mph (154-177 km/h); extensive damage |
| Category three: winds of 111-129mph (178-208 km/h); well-built homes suffer major damage | Category three: winds of 111-129mph (178-208 km/h); well-built homes suffer major damage |
| Category four: winds of 130-156mph (209-251 km/h); severe damage to well-built homes, most trees snapped or uprooted | Category four: winds of 130-156mph (209-251 km/h); severe damage to well-built homes, most trees snapped or uprooted |
| Category five: winds of 157 mph (252 km/h) or higher; high percentage of homes destroyed, area uninhabitable for weeks or months | Category five: winds of 157 mph (252 km/h) or higher; high percentage of homes destroyed, area uninhabitable for weeks or months |
| Source: NOAA | Source: NOAA |