More than 300 dead in southern Haiti from hurricane: senator

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A man carries a woman across a river at Petit Goave where a bridge collapsed during the rains of the Hurricane Matthew, southwest of Port-au-Prince, October 5, 2016. Haiti and the eastern tip of Cuba -- blasted by Matthew on October 4, 2016 -- began the messy and probably grim task of assessing the storm's toll. Matthew hit them as a Category Four hurricane but has since been downgraded to three, on a scale of five, by the US National Hurricane Center. / AFP PHOTO / HECTOR RETAMAL
A man carries a woman across a river at Petit Goave where a bridge collapsed during the rains of the Hurricane Matthew, southwest of Port-au-Prince, October 5, 2016.
Haiti and the eastern tip of Cuba — blasted by Matthew on October 4, 2016 — began the messy and probably grim task of assessing the storm’s toll. Matthew hit them as a Category Four hurricane but has since been downgraded to three, on a scale of five, by the US National Hurricane Center. / AFP PHOTO / 

 

An ariel view shows damaged houses are after the passing of Hurricane Matthew, in Sous Roche in Les Cayes, Southwest Haiti, on October 6, 2016. The storm killed at least 108 people in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, with the final toll expected to be much higher. / AFP PHOTO / Nicolas GARCIA
An ariel view shows damaged houses are after the passing of Hurricane Matthew, in Sous Roche in Les Cayes, Southwest Haiti, on October 6, 2016.
The storm killed at least 108 people in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, with the final toll expected to be much higher. / AFP PHOTO / Nicolas GARCIA

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Hurricane Matthew killed more than 300 people as it smashed through southern Haiti, a senator from the region said Thursday.

Senator Herve Fourcand said that figure is still preliminary, as some areas hit by the powerful storm are still inaccessible.

Haiti’s southern peninsula was the hardest hit by the storm.

Fourcand disputed the official toll given by the government so far, which was 122. Earlier, Radio Television Caraibes put the toll nationwide at 264.

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