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At least 108 people have died in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew swept through the Caribbean country.
Officials are estimating that the death toll will rise.
"The situation is catastrophic," President Jocelerme Privert told The Miami Herald . "The situation is critical."
Severe weather is expected to reach the east coast of the US, and could be the most devastating storm the area has seen for a decade.
The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane MatthewShow all 13 1 /13The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew A man sleeps on a cot inside the National Arena, the main disaster shelter in Kingston, Jamaica before the passage of Hurricane Matthew on October 3, 2016. Hurricane Matthew claimed its first victims, officials said Monday, leaving one dead and one person missing in Haiti as it churns through the Caribbean as the most menacing storm in nearly a decade. Strong winds buffeted the southern coast of the Americas' most destitute country which is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, in part because so many homes and buildings are flimsy. Flooding now is being reported in some areas of Jamaica as the Category 4 storm creeps closer from the south, news reports said. / AFP / Ricardo Makyn (Photo credit should read RICARDO MAKYN/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew Evacuees remain at a shelter in Guantanamo, Cuba on October 3, 2016, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Matthew. As the Category 4 hurricane creeps closer, Cuba, in the likely path of destruction, ordered the evacuation of more than 250,000 people from the east of the island. / AFP / YAMIL LAGE (Photo credit should read YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew The road surface on Industrial Terrace is seen washed away due to the rain in Kingston, Jamaica before the passage of Hurricane Matthew on October 3, 2016. Hurricane Matthew claimed its first victims, officials said Monday, leaving one dead and one person missing in Haiti as it churns through the Caribbean as the most menacing storm in nearly a decade. Strong winds buffeted the southern coast of the Americas' most destitute country which is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, in part because so many homes and buildings are flimsy. Flooding now is being reported in some areas of Jamaica as the Category 4 storm creeps closer from the south, news reports said. / AFP / Ricardo Makyn (Photo credit should read RICARDO MAKYN/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew Evacuees get their lunch at a shelter in Guantanamo, Cuba on October 3, 2016, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Matthew. As the Category 4 hurricane creeps closer, Cuba, in the likely path of destruction, ordered the evacuation of more than 250,000 people from the east of the island. / AFP / YAMIL LAGE (Photo credit should read YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew A woman watches TV at a shelter in Guantanamo, Cuba on October 3, 2016, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Matthew. As the Category 4 hurricane creeps closer, Cuba, in the likely path of destruction, ordered the evacuation of more than 250,000 people from the east of the island. / AFP / YAMIL LAGE (Photo credit should read YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew CARIBBEAN SEA - OCTOBER 3: In this NOAA handout image, taken by the GOES satellite at 1620 UTC shows Hurricane Matthew in the Caribbean Sea heading towards Jamacia, Haiti and Cuba on October 3, 2016. Matthew is a strong Category 4 hurricane, in the central Caribbean Sea and is poised to deliver a potentially catastrophic strike on Haiti. (Photo by NOAA via Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew Workers of the Emergency Operation Centre (COE) in Santo Domingo, monitor Hurricane Matthew on October 3, 2016 as it lumbers through the Caribbean Sea. Hurricane Matthew claimed its first victims, officials said Monday, leaving one dead and one person missing in Haiti as it churns through the Caribbean as the most menacing storm in nearly a decade. The now Categor 4 hurricane is expected to hit southwestern Haiti Monday night, packing powerful winds and torrential rain, the US National Hurricane Center said in Miami. Cuba and the Bahamas are also in the likely path of destruction. / AFP / afp / Erika SANTELICES (Photo credit should read ERIKA SANTELICES/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew Residents of Granma Island are evacuated due to the proximity of Hurricane Matthew in Santiago de Cuba on October 2, 2016. / AFP / YAMIL LAGE (Photo credit should read YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew An elderly man sits at the entrance to the National Arena,the main disaster shelter in Kingston, Jamaica before the passage of Hurricane Matthew on October 3, 2016. Hurricane Matthew claimed its first victims, officials said Monday, leaving one dead and one person missing in Haiti as it churns through the Caribbean as the most menacing storm in nearly a decade. Strong winds buffeted the southern coast of the Americas' most destitute country which is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, in part because so many homes and buildings are flimsy. Flooding now is being reported in some areas of Jamaica as the Category 4 storm creeps closer from the south, news reports said. / AFP / Ricardo Makyn (Photo credit should read RICARDO MAKYN/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew 84 year-old Lloyd Elwood a retired fisherman lays on a mattress inside the Paradise Street Basic School, used as a shelter for residents of the Rae Town Fishing Village in East Kingston, Jamaica before the passage of Hurricane Matthew on October 3, 2016. Hurricane Matthew claimed its first victims, officials said Monday, leaving one dead and one person missing in Haiti as it churns through the Caribbean as the most menacing storm in nearly a decade. Strong winds buffeted the southern coast of the Americas' most destitute country which is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, in part because so many homes and buildings are flimsy. Flooding now is being reported in some areas of Jamaica as the Category 4 storm creeps closer from the south, news reports said. / AFP / Ricardo Makyn (Photo credit should read RICARDO MAKYN/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew A man works on his boat in the Cite Soleil area of Port au Prince, Haiti on October 2, 2016. Hurricane Matthew, the most powerful Caribbean storm in a decade, churned towards Jamaica and Haiti on a path that forecasters said could eventually take it to the eastern United States. Briefly a top threat overnight as a furious Category 5 storm on the 1-5 Saffir-Simpson scale, Matthew has now weakened into a still dangerous Category 4 hurricane, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. / AFP / HECTOR RETAMAL (Photo credit should read HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Caribbean embraces for Hurricane Matthew A motorist drives by a section of the road on Deanery Road in Vineyard Town that was damaged from rain in Kingston, Jamaica before the passage of Hurricane Matthew on October 3, 2016. Hurricane Matthew claimed its first victims, officials said Monday, leaving one dead and one person missing in Haiti as it churns through the Caribbean as the most menacing storm in nearly a decade. Strong winds buffeted the southern coast of the Americas' most destitute country which is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, in part because so many homes and buildings are flimsy. Flooding now is being reported in some areas of Jamaica as the Category 4 storm creeps closer from the south, news reports said. / AFP / Ricardo Makyn (Photo credit should read RICARDO MAKYN/AFP/Getty Images)
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The governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina have all declared states of emergency and are urging residents to evacuate areas that may be at risk.
Florida governor Rick Scott stressed that following the emergency guidelines along the coast could mean life or death.
"Do not surf. Do not go on the beach. This will kill you," he said Thursday. "There is no reason not to leave… My goal is to make sure everyone is prepared. Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate."
In Cuba, many structures and buildings have been destroyed by the tropical storm.