Deadly Hurricane Matthew heads to US mainland

ADDS STORM UPDATES

By Senabri Silvestre

SANTO DOMINGO, Dom. Rep.

Hurricane Matthew is heading toward the Bahamas and threatening the southeast coast of Florida, after being blamed for at least 9 deaths throughout the Caribbean.

The powerful Category 3 storm slammed the eastern tip of Cuba Tuesday night with maximum winds of 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour) but is expected to strengthen to a Category 4 by the time it hits the Bahamas later Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Prime Minister Perry Christie urged the island group off the eastern coast of Florida to prepare for the “worst case scenario”.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "solidarity" with Haiti, Cuba and other nations in the Caribbean affected by the hurricane.

Haiti has announced a long-delayed re-run of last year's presidential elections slated for Sunday would be re-scheduled due to the storm.

Meanwhile, American Airlines cancelled all flights to south Florida on Thursday.

Matthew slammed into Cuba with heavy rains that destroyed homes and caused heavy flooding. Local media said no deaths have been reported but more than 1.3 million residents have been displaced.

In the Dominican Republic, four deaths were reported and more than 25,000 people displaced.

Forty communities across the country have been cut off due to flooding, authorities said.

All flights between Haiti, Cuba and Mexico have been cancelled.

One southern town in Haiti lost access to the rest of the country after its main bridge was destroyed by flood waters.

Mayor Ernst Ais of Cavaillon told Anadolu Agency that four out of five deaths in Haiti occurred in the town.

President Jocelerme Privert and officials plan to tour affected areas later Wednesday.

Port-au-Prince resident Louis-Joseph Olivier said the storm left entire communities under water. "This country was not ready for this new disaster; people are not preparing to face a situation like this one. It’s horrible," he told Anadolu Agency.

U.S. President Barack Obama said that the people of Haiti are going to “need substantial help” after being hit “really hard by this storm”.

The assistant administrator for the American aid relief agency said the U.S. pre-positioned its elite disaster response teams in Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas before Matthew hit.

The more than two dozen staff were accompanied by supplies of food and hygiene materials, in addition to water supply systems, David Harden told reporters.

“Most of the area has been hit pretty hard,” he said, noting that air assessments would begin later Wednesday.

The U.S. has pledged $1.5 million in immediate relief, including $1 million in food aid and $500,000 in non-food items.

“If there are further needs we’re prepared to deploy more commodities and more relief supplies,” he said. “Right now we’re in the initial assessment and response phase.”

In Haiti, Harden said “a lot” of the U.S. response would focus on water and sanitation efforts he described as the “primary means of inhibiting the spread of cholera.”

The Caribbean nation has been particularly hit hard by a deadly outbreak of cholera following the 2010 earthquake. More than 9,000 people have died there from the water-borne disease.

As Matthew twists north through the Caribbean toward the U.S. mainland, Florida residents have begun to prepare for what could be the worst hurricane landfall in a decade.

Gov. Rick Scott warned residents to prepare for the worst, including potential evacuations.

Further north, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in 13 coastal counties that will begin later Wednesday.

And South Carolina will begin to enforce a mandatory evacuation of coastal areas that is expected to cause more than 1 million people to relocate.

Obama urged residents in the U.S. southeast to “pay very close attention to your local officials and the broadcasts that are going to be coming through over the next several hours.”

“This is something to take seriously,” he said after receiving a briefing on the approaching hurricane. “We hope for the best, but want to prepare for the worst,” he added.

* Anadolu Agency Correspondent Michael Hernandez contributed to this report from Washington DC