The Haitian authorities have postponed presidential and legislative elections originally set for Sunday because of the havoc caused by Hurricane Matthew, election officials said Wednesday.

The impoverished Caribbean nation's last elections, in 2015, were canceled amid violence and massive fraud, leaving the country stranded in political limbo ever since.

The president of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, Leopold Berlanger, said a new date for elections would be announced by next Wednesday at the latest, after talks between the various interested parties.

The authorities must first assess the damage caused by Matthew, which struck Haiti on Tuesday as a Category Four hurricane with 230-kilometer (145-mile) an hour winds, he said.

The death toll from the storm stands at 10 people, but a bridge collapse cut off the area hardest hit, making the scope of the disaster still unclear.

"In the southern region, we already know that many buildings have lost their roofs and some of them were going to be voting centers," Berlanger said.

Poll workers may be among the victims or those left homeless by the hurricane, he added.

- A new hurdle -

Haiti has been immersed in a political crisis since the first round of presidential elections held on October 25, 2015, drew opposition protests.

The election authorities concluded that there had been massive fraud and canceled the election results.

The two new polling dates had been fixed for October 9 and January 18, 2017.

The Organization of American States on Wednesday expressed support for Haiti's decision to postpone the first round of voting, vowing to support "the Haitian democratic process."

"The OAS EOM will continue supporting the Haitian democratic process and will redeploy observers when the relevant authorities decide they are ready to hold elections," the chief of the OAS electoral observation mission, Juan Raul Ferreira, said in a statement.

Of the 54 candidates who took part in the presidential vote last year, 27 have confirmed they will participate in the election of a successor to Michel Martelly, who left office in February without a replacement.

Parliament had elected interim president Jocelerme Privert, but his 120-day mandate ended in June, leaving the country in a power vacuum yet again.

Amid the political turmoil, Haitians are grappling with chronic poverty and a number of major public health issues.

The Americas' poorest nation -- home to 11 million people -- has been struggling to recover from a devastating 2010 earthquake that has left thousands still living in tents.

Cholera has killed more than 10,000 people and affected some 700,000 since an outbreak in 2010, with 500 new cases reported every week.

Matthew now looms as another major hurdle to the restoration of constitutional order in Haiti.

"The electoral process is not interrupted," Berlanger said. "We are moving forward and working more intensively to deal with everything that needs to be done and also with these new problems."

Matthew death toll rises to 10 in Haiti: officials
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Oct 6, 2016 - Hurricane Matthew has left at least 10 dead in Haiti, a toll that may climb as the authorities re-establish contact with regions cut off by the storm, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

The Caribbean's worst storm in nearly a decade, Matthew pummeled Haiti with heavy rains and devastating winds that caused untold damage to the Americas' poorest nation.

"It's a very partial toll because we are still receiving information we must take the time to confirm," interior ministry spokesman Guillaume Albert Moleon told AFP, adding that two people have been reported missing.

The tally may rise within hours if the authorities manage to regain contact with the department of Grande Anse after more than 18 hours of silence.

"We are very cautious, but can already see the situation seems very concerning," Moleon said, noting that 25 injuries and eight cases of cholera had also been reported.

Initial helicopter observations over the southwestern city of Jeremie found a number of severely damaged houses, major farmland destruction and intense flooding.

Emergency relief operations were hindered after the collapse of a bridge cut off the only road linking Port-au-Prince to the peninsula that makes up southern Haiti.

Overflowing rivers are complicating efforts to bypass the damage.

US military sends help to hurricane-battered Haiti
Washington (AFP) Oct 5, 2016 - The US military said Wednesday it is sending helicopters, an aircraft carrier, troops and other equipment to Haiti to provide humanitarian assistance after the impoverished Caribbean nation was lashed by Hurricane Matthew.

Nine Army and Marine Corps choppers were expected to arrive in Haiti on Thursday, and will conduct surveys to figure out which areas are hardest hit before delivering aid, the military's head of its Southern Command, Admiral Kurt Tidd, told reporters.

"We have reports indicating that roads and communications infrastructure along the southern coastline are impassable," Kurt said.

Between 150-200 US troops will be on the ground in Haiti, and operations in the country will be directed from a center at Port-au-Prince airport.

Additionally, the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, the USS Comfort hospital ship and the USS Mesa Verde amphibious transport ship were all en route to the seas around Haiti.

A Navy official said the ships were yet to receive formal requests for help from Haiti.

"They are underway, heading south, to be prepared to provide disaster response. They haven't yet received any orders," the official said.

Hurricane Matthew -- the Caribbean's worst storm in nearly a decade -- pounded Haiti this week, and aid organizations are bracing for "catastrophic damage" in the impoverished nation's hardest hit regions.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is coordinating the US response and has dispatched an elite team to the poorest nation in the Americas.

Separately, the US Air Force said it was evacuating dozens of warplanes from bases in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as Matthew headed toward the southern United States.