Deadly Hurricane Matthew Hits Haiti, Sparking Floods And Power Outages Its powerful winds triggered storm surges that killed at least one person.

10/04/2016 03:41 am ET 

LES CAYES, Haiti, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The fiercest Caribbean storm in almost a decade ripped into Haiti’s southwestern peninsula early on Tuesday, packing 145 mile-per-hour (230 kph) winds and storm surges that killed at least one person and damaged homes.

The eye of the violent Category 4 storm was just 35 miles off the western tip of Haitiat 5 a.m EDT (0900 GMT), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, pounding coastal villages with strong gusts.

One man died when a wave crashed through his home in the beach town of Port Salut, Haiti’s civil protection service said. He had been too sick to leave for a shelter, officials said.

Overnight, Haitians living in vulnerable coastal shacks on the Tiburon Peninsula frantically sought shelter as Hurricane Matthew closed in, bringing heavy rain and driving the ocean into seaside towns.

“This storm surge will also limit rainfall runoff in some places, aggravating flooding, especially in coastal locations where swollen rivers cannot drain,” Weather Underground forecaster Jeff Masters said in a blog. more