Hurricane Matthew kills almost 900 in Haiti before hitting US

Image provided by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti shows the debris left by Hurricane Matthew in Jeremie city, Haiti on Oct 6, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti/DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- Hurricane Matthew killed almost 900 people and left tens of thousands homeless in Haiti earlier this week before plowing northward on Saturday over waters just off the US southeast, where it caused flooding and widespread power outages.

The number of deaths in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, surged to at least 877 on Friday as information trickled in from remote areas previously cut off by the storm, according to a Reuters tally of death tolls given by officials.

Matthew triggered mass evacuations along the US coast from Florida through Georgia and into South Carolina and North Carolina.

US President Barack Obama urged people not to be complacent and to heed safety instructions.

"The potential for storm surge, loss of life and severe property damage exists," Obama told reporters after a briefing with emergency management officials about the fiercest cyclone to affect the United States since Superstorm Sandy four years ago.

Matthew smashed through Haiti's western peninsula on Tuesday with 145 mile-per-hour (233 kph) winds and torrential rain. Some 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm pushed the sea into fragile coastal villages, some of which were only now being contacted.

While highlighting the misery of underdevelopment in Haiti, which is still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake, the storm looked certain to rekindle the debate about global warming and the long-term threat posed by rising sea levels to low-lying cities and towns.

At least three towns in the hills and coast of Haiti's fertile western tip reported dozens of people killed, including the farming village of Chantal where the mayor said 86 people were killed, mostly when trees crushed houses. He said 20 others were missing.