<img class="styles-A54tP4F3__noscript__12c_l" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ct7d7dxwyaak_es.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ct7d7dxwyaak_es.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ct7d7dxwyaak_es.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > Spotted by Stu Ostro, a senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel, a haunting face was seen in this infrared satellite image from NASA. (NASA Earth Science Office) (NASA Earth Science Office) 
 
 At a Glance Just as Hurricane Matthew was making landfall in Haiti, a sinister face appeared in a satellite image. 
 
 In the infrared image, the storm actually took on the look of a skull. An eerie sight was spotted on a satellite image Tuesday morning as Hurricane Matthew moved over western Haiti: a face seemed to appear in the imagery of the tropical cyclone, and it looked almost as ominous as the storm itself. 
 
 The infrared satellite image appeared to show the storm resembling a smiling skull, with Matthew's eye actually looking like an eye. The resemblance was first pointed out on Twitter by Stu Ostro , a senior meteorologist with The Weather Channel. 
 
 While it's still not clear exactly how bad the impacts of the hurricane were to Haiti, the few reports that have come out of the country are not promising. The impoverished nation has been known to struggle with heavy rainfall, and western portions of the island suffered a direct hit from the hurricane. 
 
 As of Tuesday evening, Matthew has been responsible for at least nine deaths in the Caribbean. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Hurricane Matthew leaves at least 108 dead in Haiti 
 
 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." 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Aerial images show homes badly destroyed, some without roofs, in one town in southern Haiti 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Jeremie seems to have bore the brunt of the storm 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The remains of a school with desks crushed under the rubble 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Farmland was also devastated by the hurricane 
 
 A presidential election due this weekend in Haiti has been postponed because of the hurricane, which has left destruction across the Caribbean region. 
 
 Four people were also killed in the neighbouring Dominican Republic. 
 
 It has intensified as it moves towards the US state of Florida, where US residents have been warned to prepare for a "direct hit". 
 
 Florida Governor Rick Scott said his state could be facing its biggest evacuation ever. 
 
 Matthew battered Haiti with winds of up to 230km/h (145mph) on Tuesday. The country is one of the world's poorest, with many residents living in flimsy housing in flood-prone areas. 
 
 One official for aid agency Oxfam told the BBC that more than 10,000 people had been displaced in the south alone. 
 
 Officials are concerned about the full extent of the damage in the Grand Anse area on the southern tip of the island - where Jeremie lies - which was directly in the storm's path. 
 
 A key bridge has been destroyed, roads are impassable and phone communications have gone down. 
 
 Image caption Parts of southern Haiti remain isolated after the collapse of a bridge at Petit-Goave on Tuesday 
 
 Mourad Wahba, the UN special representative for Haiti, said hospitals were overflowing. 
 
 Among the damaged buildings were schools and churches due to be used as polling stations in Haiti's election. A new date for the much-delayed vote has not yet been announced. 
 
 At the scene: Tony Brown, BBC News, Haiti 
 
 We only began to see the real destructive force of Hurricane Matthew once we moved towards the south-west of the country. 
 
 Trees fallen, banana crops uprooted and flattened, houses under water and men and women trying to get the debris out of the way. 
 
 It was noticeable how the people we passed were coping alone. There were no army or police around to help. 
 
 Even the aid agencies are struggling to move around this damaged corner of the country. 
 
 Read more 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Parts of southern Haiti have suffered severe flooding 
 
 Why Haiti is vulnerable to disasters 
 
 Hurricane Matthew has left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean, but nowhere has the devastation been more severe than in Haiti. 
 
 The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has long been particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. Six years after an earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 1.5 million, tens of thousands of quake victims still live in temporary shelters. 
 
 More than half of Haiti's city-dwellers live in overcrowded shantytowns that take the full force of any earthquake, hurricane, or disease outbreak. An ongoing cholera epidemic, triggered by the arrival of UN troops after the 2010 quake, has killed thousands of people. 
 
 Massive deforestation has also led to soil erosion, leaving hillside huts and poorly-built houses in the capital, Port-au-Prince, dangerously exposed. The consequence in rural areas, where many depend on small plots of land for their food, is that topsoil is often washed away. 
 
 Political instability and corruption have been a factor. Without effective government for decades, Haiti currently ranks 163rd out of the 188 countries on the UN Human Development Index. It spends little on storm defences. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The true extent of the damage is not yet clear 
 
 Have you been affected by Hurricane Matthew? Only if it safe to do so, you can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. 
 
 Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. Please stay safe. You can also contact us in the following ways: ||||| (CNN) A ferocious hurricane packing 145-mph winds is prompting hundreds of Guantanamo Bay employees to evacuate and threatens to wreak havoc on Haiti and Jamaica. 
 
 Hurricane Matthew is expected to dump torrential rainfall on Jamaica and Haiti on Sunday evening before making landfall Monday. 
 
 "This rainfall will produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the National Weather Service said Sunday. "Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion." 
 
 Many Jamaicans, however, believe they can ride out the storm, putting their trust in a higher power, despite pleas from authorities to leave the threatened coast. 
 
 "I'm not afraid, I'm not going," a woman in Port Royal said. "I know if God wants it to happen, it will happen." 
 
 This image shows a forecast track for Hurricane Matthew, with the storm's eye predicted to be somewhere within the shaded cone on the days indicated. 
 
 "Water systems are at risk as hurricane #Matthew's approaching," physician and researcher Keddy Moise tweeted. "Months of work fighting cholera could be lost." 
 
 Water systems are at risk as hurricane #Matthew's approaching. Months of work fighting cholera could be lost. #Haiti — Keddy Moise (@slimkeddy) October 1, 2016 
 
 The storm could also be brutal for Cuba, where many houses appear too weak to withstand a hurricane, CNN's Patrick Oppmann said Sunday. 
 
 "Just driving through Santiago today, I was struck by the number of people living in housing that looks like it's hundreds of years old," Oppmann said. "Wooden roofs, very old housing that looks like it could blow away in a heavy rainstorm -- not to mention a Category 4 storm." 
 
 In Santiago de Cuba, the island's second largest city, olive-green military trucks and an armored personnel carrier raced around to finish preparations. Santiagueros know about hurricanes. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy ripped through the city downing trees, power lines and killing 11 people in the city and surrounding provinces. 
 
 Residents of the city spent much of Sunday securing their roofs, gassing up their cars and mopeds and collecting cash sent by relatives in South Florida via Western Union. Others began to evacuate from low-lying coastal areas, going to government shelters. 
 
 Things also might be tricky on higher ground. Officials warned inhabitants of the Sierra Maestra mountains, where Fidel Castro based his camp during the Cuban revolution, of possible mudslides from heavy rainfall. 
 
 A man who identified himself only as Orlando said he rents his newly restored three-bedroom home out to foreigners. He fretted the storm would damage his investment. 
 
 But he was sure that he, his wife and daughter would escape Matthew's wrath. 
 
 "We have endured a lot of hurricanes here," he said. "We will endure this one." 
 
 As for the United States, "it is too early to determine if Matthew will directly impact the US," the National Weather Service said Sunday. "But this dangerous storm will be closely monitored." 
 
 Guantanamo Bay employees evacuated 
 
 JUST WATCHED Hurricane Matthew threatens Jamaica, Cuba Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Hurricane Matthew threatens Jamaica, Cuba 01:52 
 
 The United States is moving 700 employees and their families from its naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Sunday. Military planes were to airlift people from the base to cities in Florida. Family pets will join the mandatory evacuations, base officials said. 
 
 Those getting evacuated are mostly nonessential personnel. There are no plans to evacuate the 61 prisoners detained at the facility that holds terror suspects. 
 
 "Remaining personnel and their families will be taking shelter in their homes or designated locations," base officials said. 
 
 It's unclear when the evacuees will be brought back, officials said. 
 
 Epic rainfall, brutal strength 
 
 In the next few days, Matthew is expected to dump 15 to 25 inches of rain on southern Haiti, with as much as 40 inches in some areas, the National Weather service said. 
 
 Eastern Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba will get pummeled with as much as 25 inches in some areas. 
 
 After hitting Jamaica and Haiti, Matthew could slam Cuba, the Bahamas and South Florida later this week, forecasters said. 
 
 Although weather models show the outskirts of Matthew just scraping the southern part of Florida, Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, urged Floridians to prepare and buy supplies. 
 
 Matthew briefly strengthened Friday night into a Category 5 storm, becoming the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean since Felix in 2007. But it is now a Category 4 storm, meaning it carries winds between 130 and 156 mph (209 to 251 kph). 
 
 "Some fluctuations in intensity are possible this weekend, but Matthew is expected to remain a powerful hurricane through Monday," the National Hurricane Center said. 
 
 Bracing for a monstrous storm 
 
 JUST WATCHED Jamaica prepares for Hurricane Matthew Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Jamaica prepares for Hurricane Matthew 02:50 
 
 In Jamaica, storm shelters opened as the nation braced for its first major hurricane since Gilbert in 1988. 
 
 Marcia Forbes, a business owner in Kingston, told CNN she was preparing for a rough couple of days. 
 
 She waited in line to fill her car with gasoline, brought in her potted plants and filled her bathtub with water in case service gets interrupted during the storm. She also placed sandbags against the shutters of her multimedia company and covered her office computers with plastic. 
 
 "Having lived through Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, I know what a Category 3 hurricane can do, (much) less a Category 4 or 5," she told CNN. 
 
 "Everyone in my community is taking this hurricane seriously and getting their homes shuttered up." 
 
 Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness told journalists that while the hurricane posed a great risk to lives and property that it could also blow the economy off course, The Gleaner, a Jamaican newspaper, reported. 
 
 "The biggest concern is the impact on the economy. ... This weather event could derail our economic program," the newspaper quoted Holness as saying Saturday while touring areas that could be most affected by Matthew. "We are ensuring that all government agencies understand that they have a role in the speedy recovery. That speedy recovery will ensure that our economy does not suffer unnecessarily." 
 
 "Of course, on a local level, community level, we expect that we will see significant damage to property and dislocation and human suffering that will come from such an event if we do not prepare. It could be significant." 
 
 Many people, however, didn't plan to evacuate. Several women in Port Royal, a fishing village outside Kingston, said their families would hunker down in St. Peter's, the local church. 
 
 A woman told CNN she believed the shelters are unsafe. 
 
 "We're just going to get some rain and breeze," said the woman, who gave her name as Josephine. "We can ride it out in the church." 
 
 Another Port Royal woman, who also planned to shelter in the church, said the government always warned people to leave. She said her house only lost its roof in Hurricane Ivan, a 2004 Category 5 storm that passed near Jamaica, killing at least 14 people and leaving thousands homeless. 
 
 The woman acknowledged some fear, but she had weathered Ivan. "You know, I trust in God," she said. 
 
 Canceled flights 
 
 JUST WATCHED How to prepare for a hurricane Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH How to prepare for a hurricane 01:00 
 
 IBC Airways has canceled all flights Monday to and from Guantanamo Bay because of the approaching storm. 
 
 American Airlines, Delta Air Lines , JetBlue, Spirit Airlines and Fly Jamaica Airways issued travel warnings for their customers, saying change fees may be waived for flights to some destinations. 
 
 The US State Department issued a travel warning Sunday, urging citizens in Haiti to leave quickly if they can. 
 
 "Given the approaching hurricane, there is limited time available for a safe departure," the State Department said. 
 
 "We recommend US citizens depart Haiti if possible and work with commercial air carriers to leave prior to the arrival of the hurricane. Airports will close once conditions deteriorate and safe travel is not possible. "
– An ominous "face" spotted in an infrared satellite image of Hurricane Matthew isn't likely to calm fears as the storm heads toward the US. Noticed by a Weather Channel meteorologist, the gray shape, sort of like a skull—though others say it resembles the Grinch—appeared to be grinning as the storm moved over western Haiti on Tuesday. Those battered by the storm probably weren't smiling: The storm has killed at least 11 people, per the Weather Channel: five in Haiti, four in the Dominican Republic, one in Colombia, and one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.