HAVANA _ Hurricane Matthew hurtled toward the Bahamas and the southeastern coast of the United States on Wednesday after battering Cuba overnight with torrential rains and 145 mph winds.
No deaths have been reported in Cuba, but authorities are worried that a massive storm surge with waves as high as 26 feet could cause catastrophic flooding along the northern coast of the eastern provinces of Holguin and Guantanamo.
More than 1 million Cubans have been evacuated, according to state-run television channel Cubavision, with some being housed in official shelters and others staying with friends or neighbors in more secure areas. Authorities reported destroyed homes and flooded rivers but, miraculously, no deaths.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic, still reeling after the storm hit there Monday night, were not so lucky.
The Category 4 hurricane killed at least nine people on the island of Hispaniola _ five in Haiti and four more in the Dominican Republic. There also were reports of one person killed in Colombia and another on the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
With schools, roads and bridges destroyed and some 15,000 people displaced from their homes, "Haiti is facing the largest humanitarian event witnessed since the earthquake six years ago," said Mourad Wahba, the UN secretary-general's deputy special representative for Haiti. Many in Haiti have been living in tents and other makeshift shelters since the earthquake in 2010.
U.S. Navy spokesman Jeff Prunera said the Navy has a hospital ship and an aircraft carrier on standby in the Caribbean to provide relief in the region if it is requested.
While residents and tourists in the Bahamas braced for the hurricane, which was expected to make landfall there Wednesday afternoon, millions of people in the U.S. were urged to evacuate the southeastern coast before the hurricane is expected to hit there sometime between Thursday evening and Saturday.
"Leave now," Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned coastal residents in his state.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley gave evacuation orders for several coastal counties, starting Wednesday.
In Cuba, government officials credited large-scale precautionary evacuations for saving lives.
The country developed a sophisticated hurricane response system in the wake of 1963's Hurricane Flora, which killed 1,750 people on the island. The system includes standing evacuation plans for every household. When a big storm approaches, some whose homes are at risk are evacuated to shelters, while others move in with friends or neighbors who live in safer structures.
