Category 4 Hurricane Matthew has caused major damage after it slammed into Haiti's coastline with winds of up to 145mph.

The worst Caribbean storm in nearly a decade first hit the southwest of the impoverished island, pounding a largely rural corner with devastating winds, torrential rain and massive waves.

Some residents in shanty towns had been evacuated to shelters but many refused, fearing their already limited possessions may be stolen.

Image: Hurricane Matthew hits Haiti, with the eye of the storm pictured below the island

A lot of houses in the south have been destroyed or damaged, according to officials.

And the peninsula has been cut off from the rest of the country after the La Digue Bridge collapsed that links the capital Port-au-Prince to the region.


A man who was too unwell to leave his home to move to a shelter died as the storm crashed though his property in the beach town of Port Salut.

Rising sea levels caused extensive flooding, with some water levels reportedly at shoulder height in Les Cayes as the storm headed north towards Cuba and the Bahamas, and potentially reaching Florida by Thursday night.

In Les Cayes, aid worker Fonie Pierre said: "Many people are now asking for help, but it's too late because there is no way to go evacuate them."

Image: Schools and airports have been closed in Haiti

Florida governor Rick Scott urged residents along the Atlantic Coast to prepare for a direct hit, and the Red Cross has called for volunteers in South Carolina.

US President Barack Obama has postponed a planned Hillary Clinton campaign event near Miami on Wednesday due to the storm.

At the weekend the hurricane caused the death of another Haitian, a fisherman in St Jean Du Sud in the south, who was killed in heavy seas as the storm approached.

Image: The direction of travel that Matthew is currently predicted to be taking

A man died in Colombia and a teenager was killed in St Vincent and the Grenadines as the storm moved through the Caribbean.

In southwestern Haiti, many streets were flooded or blocked with fallen trees. Water levels were reportedly shoulder high in parts of Les Cayes, near where Matthew came ashore.

The US National Hurricane Centre's Richard Pasch said: "We are looking at a dangerous hurricane that is heading into the vicinity of western Haiti and eastern Cuba.

"People who are impacted by things like flooding and mudslides hopefully would get out and relocate because that's where we have seen loss of life in the past."

Image: Many residents of Port-au-Prince were urged to move to shelters

Schools and two airports have been closed until Wednesday with more than 500 people evacuated from the city of Jeremie.

The hemisphere's poorest country was already badly affected by a hurricane which hit earlier in the season.

One unemployed man who lives in a shack in Tabarre, a suburb of capital Port-au-Prince, said: "If we lose our things we are not going to get them back!"

Forecasters have predicted the storm could drop as much as 40 inches of rain on some isolated areas of Haiti, raising fears of deadly mudslides and floods.

Matthew is expected to hit Cuba about 50 miles east of the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, where authorities have already evacuated hundreds of wives and children from the base.