Hurricane Matthew has gained momentum and is on its way to the Caribbean. Over the last 10 years is one of the largest natural disasters that struck South America and now threatens to flood Jamaica and Haiti.
Matthew reached 5 (maximum) category of danger on Saturday morning, becoming the first natural disaster of this magnitude since hurricane Felix in 2007. Currently, its activity has decreased to 4 categories, but the national hurricane center in Miami still measures the wind speed in the active zone of up to 250 km/h. At the peak of its growth Matthew reached the capacity of another legendary hurricane Gilbert that hit Jamaica in 1988, becoming “the most destructive disaster in modern history”.
Sunday morning a storm hit the Northern border of South America, the Gulf of water Colombia. Because of the extensive flooding there was a mass flooding of areas in which died at least one person, literally washed away by the huge amount of precipitation.
Currently, Matthew can come down to Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba. The Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness called an emergency session of Parliament on Friday to discuss the preparations for the upcoming disaster. Forecasters say the hurricane will pass today in the Eastern regions of the country, and the amount of precipitation ranges from 25 to 38 cm in Jamaica, and up to 64 cm in Haiti. It is expected that the mountainous terrain in the Eastern part of Cuba will weaken the storm, and lower hurricane status before it reaches Bermuda.
