Hurricane Matthew lashed Haiti's southwestern coast today with raging winds and storm surge. It threatened to devastate the impoverished Caribbean nation's towns and villages. The region's strongest storm in almost a decade made landfall on Haiti's Tiburon Peninsula as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph. Heavy rain was falling across the country.<br/><br/>Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is already struggling to regain its footing almost seven years after an earthquake and ensuing cholera epidemic ravaged the nation. It is particularly vulnerable to vicious weather storms because it is one of the most deforested countries in the world. The country also has relatively steep terrain as well, which can make it prone to landslides and mudslides.<br/><br/>Haiti's civil protection agency has reported just one death so far, a fisherman who drowned in rough water churned up by the storm. That raised Matthew's death toll to at least three. One man died in Colombia and a teen was killed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines as the storm moved through the Caribbean.