The southeastern coast of the United States suffered a horrible loss of lives, property, and possessions the first week of this month, due to Hurricane Matthew. In Florida, storm surges of several feet washed out roads and carved new inlets as wind and rain pummeled the area from West Palm Beach to Jacksonville. Moving up the coastline to cause record tides and river levels in Georgia, and South and North Carolina, the Category 1 hurricane continued to flood homes, left millions without power, damaged piers and beaches, and dumped torrential rain on these states that swamped communities. The flooding in North Carolina continued through the following week. Millions were displaced, some temporarily, some more permanently, and the storm was responsible for dozens of deaths.www.humanitariannetwork.org or www.haitianclinic.org. Consider donating. It is not too late to recognize that while the bad behavior and improprieties of politicians has captured our attention, others' daily lives have been disrupted in a most violent manner and deserve attention.

The damage wrought by Matthew in the Caribbean was devastating. Haiti suffered greatly, with lives lost numbering close to 1,000 and towns completely obliterated by the then-Category 4 storm. Cuba and the Bahamas were battered, as well, before the storm moved toward the United States.

As October comes to a close, there remain millions of people impacted by Hurricane Matthew who are in need.

Yet news reports on this life-shattering storm have been buried by sensational political news.

News that will help Americans determine the next president of the United States is critical.

But people in this country and nearby nations struggle with bailing out homes, burying the dead, dealing with power outages and water quality, and otherwise resurrecting their lives in the wake of Matthew. Sadly, the rhetoric of politicians and the seamy side of those lives is prioritized over destruction that physically and mentally affects people's lives.

Hurricane Matthew is a news item not only of importance, but which is vital to lives in a way that politics can only pretend to be. This was a storm event of magnitude, and one that continues to affect people every day in the most basic of ways. Were it not for a dysfunctional presidential election, this would have been the top news item every day for the first half of October and generated a greater outpouring of compassion and assistance.

We are a nation of haves, and it is long past the time to reach out to those who no longer have, due to the wrath of nature.

The realities of electing a president are already written in stone this election season, but the needs of neighbors are ongoing. Locally, the Big Y on Queen Street has partnered with the American Red Cross, collecting donations at registers through Saturday, October 29. Newtown resident Don Dinsmore is coordinating relief to help a clinic in Haiti (see related story in this week's paper) through the

Remember others, as we were remembered in our time of need.