Americas...:Hurricane Matthew Pummels Haiti, Cuba, Evacuatio...

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Hurricane Matthew Pummels Haiti, Cuba, Evacuations Ordered in US

Local Editor

Hurricane Matthew pummeled Haiti and moved on to Cuba after killing nine people, unleashing floods and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the Caribbean's worst storm in nearly a decade.

Far to the north, the first evacuations were ordered in the United States as coastal residents prepared to escape the approaching monster storm, expected off the East Coast later this week.

The death toll stood at nine -- five in Haiti and four in the Dominican Republic -- but was certain to rise as dangerous Matthew bruised its way north.

The full scope of the damage, both human and material, remained unclear. Civil protection officials in Haiti said they were struggling to communicate with the south after Matthew's furious wind and rain blew down telephone lines.

A partial assessment of the damage, which excluded the department of Grande Anse, which was in the direct eye of the storm, indicated that 14,500 people have been displaced and 1,855 homes flooded. Those numbers were expected to increase once communication is reestablished with the area.

The collapse of a bridge cut off the only road linking Port-au-Prince to the peninsula that makes up southern Haiti.

"It's going to be difficult to find an alternative route," civil protection spokesman Edgar Celestin told AFP.

One person has been reported missing and 10 injured so far across Haiti, officials said.

Next in line, Cuba was hit late in the afternoon on its eastern tip.

The storm's eye made landfall around 0000 GMT but was already moving off the island's northeastern coast just three hours later, heading north at 13 kilometers per hour, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team