Aerial images show homes badly destroyed by Hurricane Matthew, some without roofs, in the town of Jeremie in southern Haiti, 6 October 2016. Photo: Reuters

6 October 2016 (BBC News) – New images show the extent of devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, with one town virtually wiped out and at least 23 people dead. The death toll is expected to rise amid concern over an area in the south-west which remains largely cut off. Images from one of the towns, Jeremie, show hundreds of flattened houses. The hurricane has gone back up to a Category Four storm, the second highest hurricane classification, as it heads for the US state of Florida. Hurricane Matthew is currently pounding the Bahamas, after slicing through Haiti and Cuba. It is the most powerful Caribbean storm in nearly a decade. Haiti’s civil protection service has confirmed 23 fatalities, but Reuters news agency, quoting local officials, put the death toll at the much higher figure of 98. The south-western town of Jeremie was “pretty much wiped out from the seaboard all the way to the cathedral”, a radio host in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince told the BBC on Thursday. He said the town had been virtually cut off from the rest of the world because of broken down communications since the hurricane. “The devastation that we are seeing is horrible … The town is really in dire straits and it’s very, very bad down there.” [more]

Hurricane Matthew: New images show scale of Haiti destruction