Its center was expected to pass to the east of Jamaica and then cross over or be very close to the southwestern tip of Haiti late Monday before reaching Cuba on Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. "Even in normal times, when we have rain we have flooding that sometimes kills people," said Semelfort, comparing Matthew to 1963's Hurricane Flora, which swept away entire villages and killed thousands in Haiti. In Cuba, which Matthew is due to reach on Tuesday, evacuation operations were well underway, with most tourists in the eastern town of Santiago de Cuba moved inland and given instructions on where to shelter in hotels during the hurricane. “There is a big concern for rains there and also a big concern for storm surge.”

Matthew is one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history and briefly reached the top classification, Category 5, becoming the strongest hurricane in the region since Felix in 2007.
Heavy rains from Hurricane Matthew's outer bands drench Haiti and Jamaica, killing a Haitian fisherman. The Category 4 storm, with 140 mph ((220 km/h) maximum sustained winds), is heading towards western Haiti, eastern Cuba, and the southeastern and central Bahamas.