Hurricane Matthew's aftermath

by Sue Richards, noonsite.com on 12 Oct 2016 Hurricane Matthew has morphed into what meteorologists call a 'post-tropical cyclone.' As of Monday morning, Matthew was well off the Northeast USA coast and will continue to move out to sea to just off the Canadian Maritimes by the evening, the National Weather Service said. Whilst Matthew is now long gone, the countries it rolled over will be suffering for a long time to come. noonsite.com

USA: Floodwaters still rising

Hurricane Matthew may be long gone but much of the Southeast States was still suffering early Monday as floodwaters continued to rise, stranding hundreds of people.

The storm killed at least 23 people as it churned across five states — six in Florida, three in South Carolina, three in Georgia, one in Virginia and 10 in North Carolina.

After receiving as much as 18 inches (39 cm) of rain from Matthew over the weekend, North Carolina's skies were clear on Monday, but there were major problems from overwhelmed rivers and breached levees.

Authorities in coastal Georgia and South Carolina warned residents it may take days or even weeks to restore electricity and clean up all the debris.

St. Augustine, the 511-year-old tourist town in northern Florida, was swamped by a record-breaking nine-foot storm surge, as was Tybee Island off Georgia, where high tide and the storm surge coincided to inundate the low-lying barrier island.

Between St. Augustine and Palm Coast, a small new inlet was carved out by the powerful water pounding the coast.

Caribbean

Still, the Caribbean fared far worse, with Matthew taking more than 900 lives in Haiti. At a news conference on Monday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon delivered a dire assessment of the country and pleaded for international support.

Entire towns and villages were decimated, he said, and the threat of cholera and other water-borne diseases was looming. More than one million people need assistance and hundreds of schools were damaged.

Haiti after Matthew: 'This is an absolutely shocking crisis' - Report from Dr. Vince Degennaro, on the ground in Haiti, 8 October, 2016.

Today was a very difficult day. We have shared some very disturbing photos that we would not normally share but we would like you to see this from our eyes as much as possible. No one has put boots down on the ground anywhere between Port Salut and Jeremie. The US military flew us by helicopter to Les Anglais, a commune of 40,575 people west of Port Salut. We landed and the military took off to do further reconnaissance. We were requested to take all our gear in the unlikely event they could not make it back. Our time on the ground was 90 minutes.

The situation we found there was absolutely horrific and much worse than we had thought, as there had been no reliable information from this area. We were met by several hundred people from the community including the mayor and the one doctor who was from Les Cayes. He has not heard anything about his family in Les Cayes since the hurricane.

There are 179 reported deaths and at least 700 hundred injured, some seriously. These numbers only include the center of town. There are only 82 standing homes out of 4,000. People are sleeping outside. The hospital has had significant destruction and patients are in places with debris, fallen cement and wires. We saw many patients with significant wounds.

The medication supply has dwindled and the shelves of medications are virtually bare with not even gauze tor bandages left. They have had 25 cases of cholera and five deaths since Tuesday including a man who was brought in dead while we were there. There is a little boy with cholera who had been orphaned by the hurricane and very painfully close to death. They are completely cut off from any road access by four collapsed bridges.

There is no clean water. Everyone is now drinking contaminated water, the infants, children, everyone. The crops of millet, corn. legumes, sweet potatoes were destroyed. The food they were able to protect from the storm was brought out and put in the sun to dry but quickly spoiled. There is no food. No electricity. No communication.

We also learned today from flyovers that this is the same situation for the entire area from Port Salut to Jeremie. No water, extreme hunger/no food, no shelter, and people dying from a lack of basic healthcare as no one can get to them by road. This is an absolutely shocking crisis and based on our contact with a whole host of actors here on the ground, it doesn’t seem like there is a plan to get food, water, and healthcare to these thousands of stranded people anytime soon.

We are not sure why it has taken this long to realize these people are isolated and without anything, but we know now and must share this story with anyone who can help.

Tropical Storm Nicole

Meanwhile, forecasters are keeping a close watch on Tropical Storm Nicole, now located 900 miles east of Miami. Nicole is expected to strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane with 100-mph winds, potentially threatening Bermuda by the end of the week.

'Swells associated with Nicole and Post-Tropical Cyclone Matthew should increase on Bermuda during the next couple of days,' the National Hurricane Center said. 'These swells will create dangerous surf conditions and rip currents.'

Nicole poses no threat to the U.S.

There are no other tropical storm or hurricane threats anywhere in the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico Monday, the hurricane center said.