Hurricane Matthew became the first Category 4 landfall in Haiti in 52 years, and parts of eastern Cuba and the Bahamas are next in line.
Hurricane watches have been issued for the East Coast of Florida, according to the Weather Channel.
Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide reported that powerful winds, heavy rain, and significant storm surge pounded the southeastern coast of Haiti for hours before Hurricane Matthew made landfall to the west of Les Cayeson on the Tiburon Peninsula at just after 7:20 a.m. EDT.
Matthew came ashore as a Category 4 storm with hurricane-force winds impacting a radius of up to 40 miles from the eye of the storm and tropical storm-force winds extending as far as 185 miles.
As of 11 a.m. EDT, Matthew had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
U.S. impact
Matthew is the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007, and could make landfall in the United States later this week.
While its potential impact remains unclear, NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins suggested that the storm's path could be reminiscent of Hurricane Floyd in 1999 — which required the evacuation of 2.6 million people across five states.
As of Tuesday morning, Karins expected the storm could be a "major hurricane" from Florida all the way to North Carolina, though he noted the projected impact might fluctuate, according to NBC News.
Both Florida Gov. Rick Scott and North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory activated states of emergency on Monday, covering 66 counties in North Carolina and all counties in Florida.
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