Natural disasters can happen anywhere and everywhere. The most recent natural disaster was Hurricane Matthew. It was a very powerful, long-lived and deadly tropical cyclone that hit. Matthew brought widespread destruction and catastrophic loss of life.

This happened during its journey across the Western Atlantic, including parts of Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Lucayan Archipelago, the southeastern United States, and the Canadian Maritimes. There were over 1,600 estimated deaths that have been recorded due to the storm.

This included 546 to 1,600 in Haiti, 1 in Colombia, 4 in the Dominican Republic, 1 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and 47 in the United States. The storm caused damage estimated at $8.3 billion.

According to Time.com, “Matthew formed as a tropical storm near Saint Lucia late last week, before becoming a Category 4 hurricane over the Caribbean,” said David Johnson.

The first reports to arrive were there was flooding and destruction, rivers of brown water going through streets, and homes losing their tin roofs. Then, eventually, the talk included the loss of livestock.

Azam Ahmed from The New York Times said, “The storm left a broad tableau of devastation: houses pummeled into timber, crops destroyed and stretches of towns and villages under several feet of water. In the southern city of Jérémie, 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed.”

Hurricane Matthew’s second landfall was in Cuba.

According to Kate Linthicum and Josue Lopez of LA Times, “a massive storm surge with waves as high as 26 feet toppled apartment buildings and washed out bridges on the island’s northern coast. More than 1 million Cubans were evacuated from their homes, according to state-run television channel Cubavision.”

There also were winds of up to 145 mph, and torrential rain. Matthew made its third landfall over Grand Bahama as a Category 4 cyclone later that day. It then later that day was supposed to hit North Carolina, but it ended up turning away on Oct.9.

The hurricane dissipated on Oct.10. The hurricane did however cause flooding, destruction, and loss of power for many in the US, especially, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. All were put in a “State of Emergency” from the President as he declared it.

Hurricane Matthew was a destructive natural disaster and a deadly hurricane.