NBC News is reporting tonight that Rick Knabb, the director of the National Hurricane Center says that Haiti has already been experiencing torrential rainfall today, ahead of the storm’s arrival late tonight or early Tuesday morning where “staggering rainfall totals are possible.”
An intermediate advisory from the NHC at 8:00 p.m. puts Hurricane Matthew 120m miles (190) kilometers) south of Tiburon, Haiti and 200 miles (325 kilometers) southwest of Port Au Prince, Haiti. Matthew is still a very strong and dangerous Category 4 storm with life-threatening rain, wind and storm surge expected in Haiti during the night.
Hurricane Matthew’s maximum sustained winds are 140 mph (220 kph), with a minimum central pressure of 934 mb (27.58 inches) as the storm churns along at 8.0 mph (13 kph) on it northerly track.
Impact of Matthew will create a humanitarian disaster
National and international authorities have been rushing to meet what is predicted to become a humanitarian disaster in Haiti. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is still rebounding from the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed 200,000 people and left hundreds of thousand more to live in make-shift shelters and tent cities.
Ari Sarsalari, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel called Matthew “just an absolute powerhouse,” adding that besides Haiti, it will be “a really nasty storm in Jamaica and eastern Cuba.”
Hurricane warnings are in effect for Haiti, the Cuban provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Granma, and Las Tunas, Southeastern Bahamas, including the Inaguas, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, and Ragged Island, as well as the Central Bahamas, including Long Island, Exuma, Rum Cay, San Salvador, and Cat Island.
Hurricane Watch is in effect for the Cuban province of Camaguey, the Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as the Northwestern Bahamas, including the Abacos, Andros Island, Berry Islands, Bimini, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama Island, and New Providence.
In Cuba, 665,000 people have already been evacuated and moved inland to safety from Santiago de Cuba and other eastern locales.
The NHC’s Michael Brennan says that after passing Cuba, it is a possibility that Hurricane Matthew could be heading toward Florida where “direct hurricane impacts are possible” later this week, adding that Hurricane watches could be issued overnight for parts of the Florida peninsula and the Florida Keys.
