1st LD: Hurricane Matthew batters eastern tip of Cuba

Hurricane Matthew battered the eastern tip of Cuba on Tuesday evening with strong winds, heavy downpours and floods along the coasts of Guantanamo Province, local media said.

Meteorologist Jose Rubiera said the eye wall of Matthew whipped up winds of up to 240 kmph.

The area has never been hit by a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale before.

The expert added that farther away in Baracoa, on the northern coast of Guantanamo, the hurricane brought sustained winds of 150 kmph, heavy rains and coastal flooding.

Baracoa is the most likely exit point of Matthew after it affects the eastern region of the island, Rubiera said.

The eye of the hurricane and its strongest winds and rains will impact the area for around three to four hours, Rubiera said.

Matthew entered Cuban territory at 6:07 p.m. (2207 GMT) on Tuesday in the eastern locality of Punta Caleta, in Guantanamo Province, just a few kilometers west of Punta de Maisi, the most eastern point of this Caribbean nation, said the island's meteorological agency.

Cuba's state daily Granma broadcast photos of rough seas and high waves along the shoreline in the province.

State television informed of power outages throughout many localities of Guantanamo as well as blocked roads and disrupted phone and Internet communications.

Along the southern coast of Guantanamo waves rose up to five meters and strong floods are expected on the northern coast of the province and the neighboring Holguin.

A hurricane warning has been issued for Guantanamo and the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Granma and Camaguey since Monday.

On its actual track Matthew will exit Cuban territory and move over the sea during the early hours of Wednesday. A turn toward the north-northwest is expected and the hurricane will head to the Bahamas and the eastern coast of the United States.

President Raul Castro has been in the east of the country since Saturday, supervising storm preparations in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo.

Cuba's Civil Defense System has implemented all means to minimize damages with the main goal of avoiding deaths during the hurricane. Over 400,000 people in coastal areas prone to flooding have been evacuated.

In addition to mass evacuations, thousands of people have protected the state's assets and strategic installations for the economy, cut trees and cleaned sewage systems and drains.

Matthew earlier barrelled through western Haiti, killing at least three people with a fourth still missing, and displacing some 9,000 people.

The last major hurricane to hit Cuba was 2012's Sandy, which caused widespread damage to southeast Cuba, killing 11 people, and went on to cause catastrophic flooding in New York, after making an unexpected left turn into the U.S. Eastern Seaboard as it travelled north. Endi