Hurricane Matthew: Jamaica and Haiti brace for ‘life-threatening’ storm

Matthew will likely make landfall sometime after Monday night off the western tip of the Tiburon Peninsula, which includes most of Haiti’s southern coast, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm surge is expected to reach 10 feet in parts of Cuba, Haiti and the Bahamas.
The hurricane could be especially devastating for Haiti as much of the country’s infrastructure remains weak after the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people. Haiti continues to recover from a post-quake cholera outbreak that killed another 10,000.
The US State Department issued a travel warning Sunday urging Americans in Haiti to leave as quickly as possible.
“Airports will close once conditions deteriorate,” the State Department said.

Bracing for a monstrous storm in Jamaica

Over the weekend, Jamaican officials opened storm shelters ahead of the nation’s first major hurricane since Gilbert in 1988.
Watches and warning

Hurricane warning is in effect for:

• Jamaica

• Haiti

• The Cuban provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Granma and Las Tunas

* The Southeastern Bahamas, including the Inaguas, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay and Ragged Island

Hurricane watch is in effect for:

* The Turks and Caicos archipelago

* The central Bahamas, including Long Island, Exuma, Rum Cay, San Salvador, and Cat Island

• The Cuban province of Camaguey

Source: National Hurricane Center

“[This hurricane] is something Jamaica has not seen in decades,” Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s minister of local government and community development, told CNN affiliate WPLG.
Kingston resident Marcia Forbes, who survived Gilbert, told CNN she has “seriously” prepared for a rough couple of days. She waited in line to fill her car with gasoline. To protect her multimedia business, she placed sandbags against office shutters and covered computers with plastic.
Around 3 a.m. Monday, the Norman Manley International Airport near Kingston announced on Facebook it was shutting down until Tuesday morning.
Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged government workers to facilitate a speedy recovery to ensure “our economy does not suffer unnecessarily,” The Gleaner reported him saying.
“We will see significant damage to property and dislocation and human suffering that will come from such an event if we do not prepare,” Holness said, according to the newspaper.

Hunkering down

Some Jamaicans believe they can ride out the storm, and say they’re putting their trust in a higher power, despite pleas from authorities to leave the threatened coast.
Several women from Port Royal, a fishing village outside Kingston, said their families would hunker down in the nearby St. Peter’s Church, placing their faith in God.
One woman who sought refuge there told CNN the government always warns people to leave before storms. Though at least 14 people died during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, she lost only the roof on her house, she said.
She conceded fear with Matthew, as she did during Ivan, but said, “You know, I trust in God.”

Crash course to Cuba

Jamaica prepares for Hurricane Matthew
Jamaica prepares for Hurricane Matthew 02:50
After hitting Haiti and Jamaica, Matthew is expected to move north toward Cuba and make landfall Tuesday night, maintaining winds of more than 100 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm could be brutal for Cuba, where many houses appear too weak to withstand a hurricane.
Military trucks raced around Santiago, the island’s second largest city, to finish preparations. Four years ago, Hurricane Sandy ripped through the city, downing trees, power lines and killing 11 people in the area. To prepare in advance, residents spent Sunday securing their roofs and collecting cash wired from relatives in Florida.
Some people left coastal areas for government shelters, while officials warned inhabitants of the Sierra Maestra mountains of possible mudslides.
“We have endured a lot of hurricanes here,” a man named Orlando, a property manager who feared for his investments, told CNN. “We will endure this one.”

What about the US?

How to prepare for a hurricane
How to prepare for a hurricane 01:00
The United States, taking no chances, began airlifting 700 family members of military personnel stationed at Guantanamo Bay to Florida. It’s unclear when the evacuees will return, officials said.
Base officials said remaining personnel would seek shelter in designated locations including their homes.
Sixty-one detainees, who remain at the facility where the United States holds prisoners it accuses of being enemy combatants, will not be evacuated, officials added.
Early Monday morning, forecasters cautioned it was too early to predict whether Matthew would directly strike the United States.
“This dangerous storm will be closely monitored,” the National Hurricane Center said.

CNN’s Faith Karimi, Joe Sterling, Joe Sutton, Patrick Oppmann, Michael Holmes, Lindy Royce and Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.

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