Hurricane Matthew weakens off US coast after killing 900 Haitians
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla./PORT-AU-PRINCE - H urricane Matthew's winds diminished on Saturday as it headed towards the Carolinas after killing almost 900 people in Haiti and causing major flooding and widespread power outages in the southeastern United States.
As winds dropped to less than 85 miles per hour (135 kph), making it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of 1 to 5, the storm was about 20 miles (35 km) south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was moving northeast at 12 miles per hour (19 kph).
The number of deaths in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, jumped to at least 877 on Friday as information trickled in from remote areas previously cut off by the storm, according to a Reuters tally of tolls from officials.
Matthew rampaged through Haiti's western peninsula on Tuesday with 145 mph (233 kph) winds and torrential rain. Some 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm hurled the sea into fragile coastal villages, some of which were only now being contacted.
