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Hurricane Matthew left a broad swath of destruction across Haiti on Wednesday with flooding, rivers of mud that washed out a crucial bridge into the southwestern peninsula of the country and thousands seeking shelter.
At least 21 people have been killed prompting the hard-hit country to postpone a long-awaited presidential election.
The death toll is expected to rise.
There were initial reports of more than 10,000 living in shelters.
Mourad Wahba, United Nations representative to Haiti, said Haiti is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since the earthquake in 2010 left more than 200,000 dead and tens of thousands living in tents and makeshift dwellings.
Some 55,000 Haitians left homeless by that earthquake were still living in shelters when Hurricane Matthew struck.
Mr. Wahba said hospitals were jammed with people and running out of clean water.
The U.N. estimated that 2.3 million people are living in areas affected by the hurricane.
Marielle Sander, a representative of the United National Population Fund said those affected include an estimated 17,000 pregnant women expected to give birth within the next three months.
With communication cut off to large areas of the country, it was difficult on Wednesday to learn the full extent of damage from the hurricane.
A UN spokesperson in Haiti said the most immediate need was collecting information about the populated, agricultural area beyond the washed-out bridge in the southwest.
With the road and communication cut to that region, rescue personnel were trying to reach people by helicopter to learn more about the damage.
US assistance
Meanwhile, the US government is moving to assist countries in the Caribbean hit by Hurricane Matthew.
Tim Callaghan, Disaster Assistance Response Team Leader for Hurricane Matthew, was in Jamaica from Saturday to coordinate his government's response in case Jamaica took a hit from Matthew.
He told RJR News shortly before leaving for Haiti Wednesday afternoon that with Jamaica not being significantly affected by the hurricane, the focus has shifted to other countries, such as Haiti, Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
Mr. Calagahan said there is already a ten person team in the Bahamas as Matthew heads to that group of islands. He said the team is on standby to bring in relief supplies to the affected countries.
Battered Bahamas
On Wednesday afternoon, Hurricane Matthew began battering the Bahamas, hurling winds of 195 kilometres per hour.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said the storm is moving northwest.
Meteorologists expect storm surges along with intense rains and damaging winds.
Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie warned that Matthew had the potential to be violently unpredictable.
US east coast
Meanwhile, authorities in Florida and South Carolina began evacuating hundreds of thousands of people on Wednesday as Hurricane Matthew roared closer to the U.S.
The National Hurricane Center warned that tropical storm conditions are expected to reach parts of the Florida coast by early Thursday, intensifying to hurricane conditions in some areas later in the day.
The center said Matthew could strengthen in coming days.
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina declared states of emergency ahead of the most powerful storm to rock the Atlantic basin since Hurricane Felix killed more than 100 people, most in Nicaragua, in 2007.
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