Officials in Haiti say the death toll from Hurricane Matthew is now at 261, up from 98 earlier in the day.
The hurricane hit on Tuesday with devastating rains and 145 mph winds, ravishing the country. Officials say more than 3,200 homes have been destroyed, 15,000 people are displaced, animals drowned, and plantations have been ripped apart. Flooding has kept rescue workers and aid agencies from the hardest-hit areas, and the death toll is expected to keep rising.
The U.N. is describing this as the worst humanitarian crisis in Haiti since the earthquake six years ago, and the damage in some areas is catastrophic: Yvonne Helle, U.N. Development Program's Haiti director, said the city of Jérémie is reportedly 98 percent obliterated. "It has an old historical center and the old houses have been completely destroyed, ripped to shreds," she told The Guardian. "There are aerial pictures of the level of destruction and it's mind-boggling." In some places, like Les Cayes, people whose homes have been destroyed have no access to shelter, and water and food is scarce. There are also fears of a surge in the cholera epidemic. "I think there are going to be serious, serious health concerns that will lead to communicable diseases related to water and sanitation," Helle said. "I'm very worried about that and obviously we still have cholera and this will have an effect on our ability to control that."
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