Hurricane Matthew makes landfall in Haiti

Hurricane Matthew lashed Haiti’s southwestern coast Tuesday with raging winds, driving rain and storm surge that threatened to devastate the Caribbean nation’s towns and villages.

The hurricane has killed at least nine people over the past few days as it roared across the Caribbean, the Associated Press reported. This included four in the Dominican Republic, three in Haiti, one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and one in Colombia.

The region’s strongest storm in almost a decade made landfall on Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph at 7 a.m., the National Hurricane Center said. It was the first major hurricane (Category 3, 4, or 5) to hit Haiti in 50 years, since Inez in 1966, Colorado State University reported.