Wind blows coconut trees during the passage of Hurricane Matthew in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016. Hurricane Matthew roared into the southwestern coast of Haiti on Tuesday, threatening a largely rural corner of the impoverished country with devastating storm conditions as it headed north toward Cuba and the eastern coast of Florida. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
Hurricane Matthew hits Haiti
01:05 - Source: CNN

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Story highlights

Main bridge leading to devastated southern Haiti has collapsed

Matthew is set to pummel the United States later this week

Santiago de Cuba CNN  — 

Hurricane Matthew took aim at the Bahamas on Thursday after leaving behind a humanitarian crisis in Haiti.

At least 276 people have been killed so far in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said, with the death toll expected to rise.

Haiti, still recovering from the catastrophic 2010 earthquake which killed hundreds of thousands, was hit hardest with more than 271 people reported dead as of Thursday evening, local time.

National Route 2, which connects Port-au-Prince with Haiti’s southern peninsula, broke apart when the bridge collapsed, the country’s civil protection agency said.

Emergency responders can't get to devastated parts of southern Haiti after a key bridge collapsed.

Tim Callaghan, assistance response team leader for the US Agency for International Development in Haiti, told CNN that much of the damage in Haiti’s hardest hit areas – the southwestern cities of Les Cayes and Jeremie – appeared to be structural, and not the result of heavy rainfall.

Bahamas: Damage still unknown

As of Thursday morning, Matthew hurled 125 mph (205 kph) winds as it churned toward the Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southeast of Nassau and was moving northwest at 12 mph.

Hurricane Matthew: Live coverage

Farther south, on the outer island of Long Island, residents began to feel Matthew’s presence.

Jeanette Walker said she lost power around noon as winds whipped palm trees and angry waves crashed on the beach, shaking her home.

CNN meteorologists expect storm surges in the Bahamas as high as 15 feet, along with intense rains and damaging winds.

Prime Minister Perry Christie warned that Matthew had the potential to be “violently unpredictable.”

The Bahamas could get hit with up to 15 inches of rain and “life-threatening” surf conditions, the hurricane center said.

Resident Bruce Darville said he prepared for Matthew’s arrival by collecting water, nonperishable foods and other essentials.

“We’ve got a generator, so we make sure that’s all fueled up, make sure your vehicle’s fueled up. And we leave the rest to the good master.”

‘A total disaster’

Haiti: a nation sadly familiar with hurricanes and earthquakes

At least 10 people are dead, 25 injured and thousands more displaced. At least 1,580 homes have been flooded, and about 3,215 families have been affected by Matthew, the country’s Civil Protection Agency said.

More than 300,000 people are in shelters across the country, the United Nations said.

Haitian pastor Louis St. Germain said the storm sheared a wall off his house and tore roofs off many buildings in the area.

“The river has overflowed all around us,” St. Germain said. “It’s terrible … a total disaster.”

Forecasters predicted parts of Haiti could get a total of 40 inches of rain – a disastrous amount for a nation still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.

Haiti: a nation sadly familiar with hurricanes and earthquakes

“Much of the population is displaced and communication systems are down,” Wahba said. “We’ve received reports of destroyed houses and overflowing hospitals with shortages of buckets and fresh water. The hospital in Les Cayes has had its roof blown off by the force of winds.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development is sending $1 million in humanitarian assistance to Haiti following the deployment of a Disaster Assistance Response Team the previous day. USAID workers are set to receive help from a joint task force lending military helicopters to carry personnel and supplies for disaster relief operations.

Residents could face risks from another threat: standing water. Haiti is still recovering from a post-quake cholera outbreak that killed 10,000 people.

“Water is going to be a major issue,” said Jean Claude Fignole, Oxfam’s influence program director in Haiti.

“Our priority is to get clean water and hygiene items to families as fast as possible to avoid a spike in cases of cholera. In the weeks and months to come, hunger is likely to emerge as big concern. Some crops in the south of the country have been totally destroyed.”

River levels rise

At least 15 people have died in relation to the slow-moving hurricane within the past week, officials in three countries said.

A neighborhood in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is flooded.

On Wednesday, Haiti’s Civil Protection Service reported 10 deaths, including a man who died when his house collapsed and two others who were killed by falling trees. A fisherman died Sunday and another fisherman is presumed dead, the spokesman for the Haitian Interior Ministry said.

Four people died in the Dominican Republic, the country’s government said. Authorities there did not provide details about how they died.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a teenage boy died in a landslide as he was cleaning a drain behind his house, the National Emergency Management Office said. He died Wednesday after storms from Matthew passed.

Dozens of houses washed away

More than 30 houses were washed away by the hurricane in the northeastern Cuban town, the site where Christopher Columbus first landed in the Americas, a resident in the town said.

No fatalities were reported, as the seafront area of the town had been evacuated ahead of Matthew’s arrival.

US braces for impact

Officials in the United States have taken steps to prepare for the storm’s arrival. Governors in four Southern states have declared states of emergency.

“I cannot emphasize enough that everyone in our state must prepare now for a direct hit,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said. “Having a plan in place could mean the difference between life and death.”

How to help those affected

Patrick Oppmann reported from Cuba; Holly Yan and Max Blau reported from Atlanta. CNN’s Deborah Bloom, Alexander Leininger, Alison Daye, Natalie Gallon and journalist Yvetot Gouin contributed.