PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sept 21: More than 700 people are dead in Haiti from flooding and mudslides triggered by Tropical Storm Jeanne and aid workers said half of the northern coastal city of Gonaives was still underwater on Monday.
The storm, which has strengthened to a hurricane, sent heavy rains and a wall of muddy water crashing through several northern towns over the weekend. Rescue workers were struggling to reach stranded residents and recover bodies.
In Gonaives, "more than 500 people have been killed," said Elie Cantave, the government delegate for the Artibonite province, which includes Gonaives. The city is the birthplace of Haiti's independence from France 200 years ago and it was where an armed revolt began this year that led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Forty-seven people were also confirmed killed in the northwest province, around the town of Port-de-Paix, said Henry Max Thelus, a government official. Eight deaths were recorded elsewhere, putting the total death toll at 556.
Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue declared three days of national mourning. Half of Gonaives remained underwater, and 80 percent of its inner urban population of over 100,000 had been affected by the floods, which at one point forced hundreds of people to take refuge on the roofs of their homes, said Anne Poulsen, spokeswoman for the U.N.'s World Food Program in Haiti.
Cantave said the region was in dire need of drinking water. Twelve trucks carrying 40 metric tons of food left the capital Port-au-Prince on Monday and headed to Gonaives, said Poulsen. The World Health Organization was sending medicine, and 15 trucks from the Brazilian-led U.N. force to support a detachment of Argentine peacekeepers stationed in the city. -Reuters
