In Haiti, the death toll due to Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, has soared to almost 900. Most of the deaths were reported from the south-western coast which suffered the full force of the hurricane this week. Reuters reports that the number of deaths surged to at least 877 yesterday as information trickled in from remote areas previously cut off by the storm. The toll may rise as rescue teams have started gaining access to southern areas cut off by the storm.
The Hurricane is currently battering the coastline of Florida in the United States, but has downgraded to a Category Two storm, with wind speed dropping to 177 kms per hour. There were at least four storm-related deaths in Florida, with more than a million left without power.
President Barack Obama said, the storm is still a really dangerous one. Mr Obama had, earlier, declared a federal state of emergency in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.