ReliefWeb

SITUATION

• Tropical Cyclone MATTHEW continued moving northwest, passing through The Bahamas islands as a Category 3 Hurricane. On 6 October at 9.00 UTC, its centre was located 95 km south south-east of Nassau (The Bahamas) and 410 km south-east of west Palm Beach (Florida State, USA) and it had max. sustained winds speed of 205 km/h (Category 3 Hurricane).

• Over the next 24 h, it is forecast to continue moving north-west, strengthening. Its centre may pass near or over Andros Island and New Providence on 6 October afternoon and Gran Bahama island (The Bahamas) in the evening of the same date possibly as a Category 3 Hurricane. It then may pass near the eastern coast of the Florida peninsula on 7 October possibly as a Category 4 Hurricane. Heavy rain, strong winds and storm surge may affect the areas along its path. JRC calculations estimated a storm surge of 2.8 m in Red Bay (The Bahamas) on 6 October at 17.00 UTC.

• As of 6 October 9:00 UTC, Hurricane and Tropical Storm Warnings and Watches are in effect for several parts of the Bahamas, as well as several parts of Florida and South Carolina states (USA).

• Civil Protection Haiti is reporting 5 dead and over 2 000 houses damaged. OCHA reports 10 people injured and over 15 600 evacuated in the Departments of Grand'Anse, Nippes, West, Centre, South and Southeast (Haiti). However, due to lack of access to many affected areas a full picture of the situation is not yet available. Authorities in the Dominican Republic report 35 019 displaced in family houses and 794 in official shelters with 3 174 houses partially damaged and 20 destroyed. Hundreds of houses have also been damaged in Baracoa (Guantanamo province, Cuba). According to official reports, more than 1 million are estimated to be evacuated throughout the region.

Sources: ECHO, GDACS, NOAA, Meteo-Haiti, OCHA, UN, Cuba Gov., COGIC, Local Media