JEREMIE, Haiti - A civil protection official says at least 470 people have died in one district of Haiti's hard-hit southwest region after Hurricane Matthew pummeled that area earlier this week.

Fridnel Kedler told The Associated Press on Saturday that he expects that number to rise because authorities haven't been able to reach two communities in the Grand-Anse department on the peninsula's northern tip.

The overall death toll remains unknown. Death counts are frequently difficult to tabulate in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster in any country, though it is particularly difficult in remote and mountainous southwest Haiti.