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Hurricane Matthew soaks Colombia, heads for Jamaica, Haiti

KINGSTON, Jamaica: One of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history roared over the open Caribbean Sea on Saturday on a course that threatened Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba.

Matthew briefly reached the top hurricane classification, Category 5, and was the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Felix in 2007.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Matthew’s winds had slipped slightly from a peak of 160 mph to a still-potentially devastating 150 mph, a Category 4 storm. It was expected to near eastern Jamaica and southwestern Haiti on Monday.

The latest forecast had Matthew’s path passing closer to Haiti than before and the center issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica and “much of Haiti,” and said life-threatening rainfall was expected in parts of the impoverished Caribbean nation.

The forecast track would also carry Matthew across Cuba and into the Bahamas, with an outside chance of a brush with Florida, though that would be several days away.

“It’s too early to rule out what impacts, if any, would occur in the United States and Florida,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman at the Hurricane Center.

As Matthew skimmed past the northern tip of South America there were reports of at least one death — the second attributed to the storm.

Authorities in the area overall breathed a sigh of relief as the storm triggered heavy flooding in towns along the La Guajira peninsula of Colombia, but damage overall was minimal. Some officials were even grateful for the rain after a multi-year drought in the poverty-stricken area.

“Families that evacuated are returning to their homes,” said La Guajira Gov. Jorge Velez. “The dikes and wells filled up, the earth is moist, and this benefits agriculture in an area where it hasn’t rained for five years, benefiting the community.”

Authorities say that at least 27 houses were damaged and two roads washed out. A 67-year indigenous man was carried away to his death by a flash flood in an area where it hadn’t rained for four years.

Elsewhere, all across Colombia’s Caribbean coastline, authorities have set up emergency shelters, closed access to beaches and urged residents living near the ocean to move inland in preparation for storm surges that they said will reach their most-intense moment sometime Saturday.

In Jamaica, high surf began pounding the coast and flooding temporarily closed the road linking the capital to its airport.

In Haiti, civil protection officials broadcast warnings of a coming storm surge and big waves, saying the country would be “highly threatened” from the approaching system. They urged families to prepare emergency food and water kits.


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