Before and after…
The death toll in Haiti as a result of Hurricane Matthew has soared to 264, the government says.
Some 50 people were reported to have died in the southern town of Roche-a-Bateau alone.
The peninsula’s main city, Jeremie, saw 80% of its buildings leveled. In Sud province 30,000 homes were destroyed.
The hurricane has again been upgraded to a Category Four storm, the second highest hurricane classification, as it heads for the US state of Florida.
Hurricane Matthew – the most powerful Caribbean storm in nearly a decade – has pounded the Bahamas after slicing through Haiti and Cuba.
Trees and power lines were reportedly down in the Bahamas but no fatalities were reported.
Most of the fatalities in Haiti were in towns and fishing villages around the southern coast, with many killed by falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers.
The storm passed directly through the Tiburon peninsula, driving the sea inland and flattening homes with winds of up to 230km/h (145mph) and torrential rain on Monday and Tuesday.
The collapse of an important bridge on Tuesday had left the south-west largely cut off.
Non-governmental organizations said phone coverage and electricity were down and people were running out of food and water.
The BBC’s Tony Brown in south-western Haiti said he had seen people trying to cope with the mass destruction on their own, trying to rebuild from the rubble but without the help of the army or police.
Please see The BBC
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-37582009
