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Stunning views of the dangerous Category 4 Hurricane Matthew as seen from the windows of the International Space Station. USA TODAY
Women cover their heads with pans as they walk in rain brought by Hurricane Matthew in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Tuesday. The capital was expected to get about 6 to 8 inches of rain. (Photo: Dieu Nalio Chery, AP)
As morning stirred Tuesday in a rural chunk of Haiti dotted with shacks and shanties, a mega-storm thundered ashore.
Matthew, a Category 4 hurricane, officially made landfall at 7 a.m. local time. But for residents sticking it out in the shantytowns in the southwestern tip of the island, the turmoil began well into the night before as wicked winds and drenching rains pounded their rickety homes.
“The winds are making so many bad noises. We’re just doing our best to stay calm,” Jenniflore Desrosiers told the Associated Press early Tuesday in the coastal town of Port Salut where she hunkered down with her family. She said her cinderblock house had already sprung a few leaks.
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While Haiti was still in the early clutches of Matthew, the country's civil protection office said a number of coastal towns had already flooded overnight and houses were destroyed. Landslides, downed trees and power outages were also reported.
“It’s much too early to know how bad things are, but we do know there are a lot of houses that have been destroyed or damaged in the south,” Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, the head of the civil protection office, told the Associated Press.
How residents who lived in the sloping, rural areas would cope was a paramount concern. Many Haitians live in shacks of wood, corrugated steel and even mud, which humanitarian agencies feared would not withstand the onslaught. Others still live in tents, almost seven years after a massive earthquake tore through the nation.
Relief workers on Monday had been on a desperate mission to persuade shantytown residents in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, to evacuate to safety.
Many Haitians in the areas expected to feel the brunt of the storm weren't even aware the worst hurricane in almost a decade was barreling toward them. "You would be amazed at how few people know there's a hurricane coming," said Jessica Pearl of Mercy Corps, a global relief agency trying to reach residents in the more isolated areas of the nation.
John Hasse, director of World Vision, said his agency experienced a similar challenge. "Several schools where we work, we’ve been having our staff go out and talk with community members to tell them to get to solid structures where they will be safe. Yet many people are still saying 'We’re waiting on God' and not making preparations,”' he said.
"We’re expecting a lot of houses to go down because of the poor housing infrastructure in a lot of the rural areas where we work," Hasse said. "With wind this strong, it will be extremely damaging and dangerous and homes for the average person are made of mud and sticks or poorly constructed cinderblocks.”
Meteorologists feared Haiti would absorb the worst of the storm on its march through the Caribbean. Flooding rains of 10 to 40 inches were expected to lash the countryside and create dangerous mudslides on the deforested land. Showers and storms spawned from Matthew could linger well after Matthew has moved on to Cuba and the Bahamas on Wednesday.
Relief workers said they would be ready once the worst of the storm subsides. "Approximately 400 World Vision staff are prepped and ready to go and start assessing the need and distributing items like tarps, blankets and clean water supplies," Hasse said. "We’re working to get food supplies to distribute as well.”
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