"Hurricane Matthew continues to move through the Caribbean with the brunt of the storm hitting The Bahamas today. We continue to closely monitor the situation and are actively working with governments in the region to provide assistance and humanitarian relief.  

The U.S. Agency for International Development has requested the unique capabilities of the U.S. Department of Defense to help support USAID-led efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to communities cut off by the storm, especially in the hard-hit southwestern peninsula. As a result, the U.S. military stood up a Joint Task Force from U.S. Southern Command to support USAID's disaster relief efforts by providing logistics and airlift capacity to deliver critical supplies and humanitarian personnel.    

USAID has deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team, an elite team of disaster experts, to Haiti, Jamaica, and The Bahamas. On Wednesday, USAID conducted an aerial assessment mission aboard a U.S. Coast Guard plane over the southwest region of Haiti. The assessment team observed extensive wind damage throughout the southwestern region, which caused significant destruction, with many roofs ripped off houses, damage to infrastructure, as well as communications outages and flooding. Based on this initial assessment, USAID is prioritizing food assistance, water and sanitation, emergency shelter, and critical health care for communities in the Grand'Anse and Sud regions.

Dangerous impacts of the hurricane are expected to continue well after the storm has passed. The risk of flooding-including flash floods and urban flooding-will continue for several days as rainwater gradually flows from high elevation to the low lands.  

We remain committed to working with governments and partners in the region to provide life-saving assistance as the Caribbean recovers from Hurricane Matthew."