Matthew was in Cuba for some six hours before starting to enter the sea en route to the north at around 2:00 am of this Wednesday. Fortunately, no deaths have been reported.
At 9 in the morning of today its center was located at some 90 kilometers to the northeast of Punta Lucrecia (Holguín) and 140 kilometers to the north-northwest of the city of Baracoa. It has turned its trajectory to the north-northwest moving at a speed of 17 kilometers per hour, according to the most recent report by the Institute of Meteorology.
Matthew is now a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale; its sustained maximum winds have gone down to 185 kilometers. The hurricane-force winds in Holguín will decrease to the extent that Matthew moves north. The winds with the force of a tropical storm will continue affecting the eastern provinces up to Camagüey.
The rains will continue in the eastern part, with between 100 and 200 millimeters of accumulated rainfall and will be more in some mountainous zones.
The meteorologists report that the strong coastal floods persist, with 3 and 4 meters over sea level and 6- to 8-meter-high waves to the north of Guantánamo and Holguín. It is expected that in the group of cays to the north of Ciego de Avila there will be “slight coastal floods.
Baracoa Devastated
Baracoa, recently renovated for its 505th anniversary, is still counting the ravages of Matthew. There are damaged roofs, fallen posts, the airport’s runway and control tower are damaged. There is no power and it is expected there will be problems with the telephony, according to a report by the Primada Visión telecenter.
A neighbor describes it as “catastrophic.”
“But we are alive. That’s what’s important, we’ll do as we did with Ike, what else can you do,” a lady affirmed.
The force of the sea carried away a container for a block. There is no communication by land. The three means of access are collapsed or blocked. Neither is there communication with Maisí, San Antonio and Imías. When attempting to establish communication with San Antonio, one hears: “Due to damages to the lines the number dialed cannot be reached.”
Baracoa has a population of 81,949 inhabitants. More than 35,000 have been evacuated; 26,508 of them opted for the protection of neighbors, friends and family members, and the rest was taken to state-run centers in the second municipality of importance in Guantánamo.
Today, sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour were reported.
Route to the United States
Hurricane Matthew is headed toward Florida after its devastating passage through the Greater Antilles. Although until now no mortal victims have been reported in Cuba, in a preliminary stage the hurricane has left nine deaths between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Matthew, considered the most powerful to hit the Caribbean region in the last decade, caused the death of three minors and an adult in the Dominican Republic as a consequence of the collapse of a wall due to a landslide while in Haiti five deaths due to diverse causes were reported. To this is added another two deaths, one in Colombia and another in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Up until now Matthew has left in its wake millions of dollars’ worth of losses in the Caribbean and has caused strong floods, the destruction of buildings and road infrastructure, and thousands of displaced persons.
