The death toll in Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew has soared to almost 900.
Tens of thousands in the impoverished Caribbean nation have also been left homeless by the monster storm, which is now ploughing northward over waters just off the US southeast where it has caused flooding and widespread power outages.
The number of deaths in Haiti surged to at least 877 on Friday as information trickled in from remote areas previously cut off by the storm, according to a tally of death tolls given by officials.
Matthew triggered mass evacuations along the US coast from Florida through Georgia and into South Carolina and North Carolina.
US President Barack Obama urged people not to be complacent and to heed safety instructions.
The Red Cross hopes to raise $9 million to help Haitians battered by Hurricane Matthew. Source: AP
"The potential for storm surge, loss of life and severe property damage exists," he told reporters of the fiercest cyclone to affect the United States since Superstorm Sandy four years ago.
Matthew smashed through Haiti's western peninsula on Tuesday with 233 km/h winds and torrential rain. More than 61,000 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm pushed the sea into fragile coastal villages.
While highlighting the misery of underdevelopment in Haiti, which is still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake, the storm looked certain to rekindle the debate about global warming and the long-term threat posed by rising sea levels.
At least three towns in the hills and coast of Haiti's fertile western tip reported dozens of people killed, including the farming village of Chantal where the mayor said 86 people died, mostly when trees crushed houses. He said 20 others were missing.
"A tree fell on the house and flattened it. The entire house fell on us. I couldn't get out," said driver Jean-Pierre Jean-Donald, 27, who had been married for only a year.
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"People came to lift the rubble, and then we saw my wife who had died in the same spot," he said, his young daughter by his side, crying.
With mobile phone networks down and roads flooded, aid has been slow to reach hard-hit areas. Food was scarce and at least seven people died of cholera, likely because of flood water mixing with sewage.
The Mesa Verde, a US Navy amphibious transport dock ship, was heading for Haiti to support relief efforts. The ship has heavy-lift helicopters, bulldozers, fresh water delivery vehicles and two surgical operating rooms.
Matthew sideswiped Florida's coast with winds of up to 195 km/h but did not make landfall in the state. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) downgraded the storm to a Category 2 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity as its sustained winds dropped. Category 5 is the strongest.
There were at least four storm-related deaths in Florida but no immediate reports of significant damage although the storm swamped streets, toppled trees and knocked out power to more than a million people.
A boat washed ashore after the passage of Hurricane Matthew in Playa Gelee, Haiti, 07 October 2016. Source: EFE
Two people were killed by falling trees, according to Florida officials, and an elderly couple died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator while sheltering in a garage.
