Hurricane Matthew Devastated
http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Hurricane Matthew Devastated
This article is about the Atlantic hurricane of 2016. For other storms of
the same name, see Tropical Storm Matthew.
Hurricane Matthew was a very powerful, long-lived and deadly tropical
cyclone which became the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane since
Hurricane Felix in 2007. The thirteenth named storm, fifth hurricane and
second major hurricane of the active 2016 Atlantic hurricane season,
Matthew wrought widespread destruction and catastrophic loss of life during
its journey across the Western Atlantic, including parts of Haiti, Cuba,
Dominican Republic and Lucayan Archipelago, the southeastern United States,
and the Canadian Maritimes. Over 1,600 estimated deaths have been
attributed to the storm, including 546 to 1,600 in Haiti, 1 in Colombia, 4
in the Dominican Republic, 1 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and 49 in
the United States, making it the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since
Hurricane Stan in 2005, which killed more than 1,600 in Central America and
Mexico. With the storm causing damages estimated in excess of US$8 billion,
it was also the costliest Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Originating from a tropical wave that emerged off Africa on September 22,
Matthew developed into a tropical storm 35 miles (56 km) southeast of St.
Lucia on September 28, after which it experienced explosive intensification
as it tracked across the Caribbean Sea. Matthew became a hurricane 190
miles (310 km) northeast of Curaçao on September 29, ultimately achieving
Category 5 intensity the following day at just 13.3°N latitude – the lowest
latitude ever recorded for a storm of this intensity in the Atlantic
Basin.¹ Matthew weakened slightly while making a northward turn toward the
Greater Antilles, remaining a strong Category 4 hurricane as it made its
first landfall over Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula early on October 4. The
cyclone then passed through the Gulf of Gonâve and Windward Passage,
retaining its Category 4 status before making a second landfall over
Guantánamo Province, Cuba later that evening. Land interaction helped
weaken the storm to a Category 3, though Matthew eventually reattained
Category 4 intensity as it moved away from Cuba and toward the Bahamas. The
eye of the storm passed between Andros Island and New Providence Island,
approaching to within 25 miles (40 km) of Nassau on October 6. Matthew made
its third landfall over Grand Bahama 15 miles (24 km) west-northwest of
Freeport as a Category 4 cyclone later that day. The storm then paralleled
the coast of the southeastern United States over the next 36 hours,
gradually weakening while remaining just offshore before making its fourth
and final landfall over the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge 55 miles
(89 km) south-southwest of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina as a Category 1
cyclone on the morning of October 8. Matthew reemerged into the Atlantic
shortly afterward, briefly retaining its hurricane status before completing
its transition into an extratropical cyclone as it turned away from Cape
Hatteras, North Carolina on October 9.²
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