The course of Hurricane Matthew has placed Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba in the path of potentially devastating winds and rain.
Matthew was upgraded to a hurricane on Thursday, growing in intensity reaching maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. The hurricane was downgraded to Category 4 yesterday.
The winds are strong enough to wreck houses, forecasters said.
As it continues its trajectory toward Jamaica, regional airline carrier, Caribbean Airlines has cancelled several of its flights.
The hurricane is expected to hit Jamaica tomorrow before moving toward Haiti and Cuba.
Flights for today and tomorrow have been cancelled.
Yesterday, Caribbean Airlines' head of corporate communications, Dionne Ligoure, listed at least 14 flights which will be grounded as a result of the hurricane.
The hurricane, which lashed Dominica barreled through the Caribbean yesterday toward Jamaica and was expected to turn toward the north-northwest by day's end to set a course possibly impacting the East Coast next week.
The hurricane has reportedly been responsible for two deaths so far, a 67-year-old man in Colombia and a 16-year-old boy in St Vincent.
According to the Jamaica Gleaner, high surf began pounding the coast of Jamaica and flooding temporarily closed the road linking the capital to its airport.
Accuweather Meteorologist Mike Doll told reporters Matthew will pose severe risks to lives and property across Jamaica, eastern Cuba and Haiti by unleashing flooding rain, destructive winds and an inundating storm surge early next week.
He said Matthew, which is currently a Category 4 hurricane, will continue to slowly meander across the central Caribbean Sea before making an abrupt turn to the north by weekend.
"That will put the major hurricane on a path to track over or dangerously close to Jamaica or Haiti before threatening to make a direct hit on eastern Cuba.
"There is a potential for Matthew to bring devastating winds, a deadly storm surge and flooding rain to parts of Jamaica, far western Haiti and eastern Cuba," Doll said.
In Haiti, civil protection officials broadcast warnings of a coming storm surge and big waves, saying the country would be "highly threatened" from the approaching system over the next 72 hours. They urged families to prepare emergency food and water kits. �2(See page A29 for more on Hurricane Matthew)