Floods kill more than 600 in Haiti

GONAIVES, Haiti – Bloated corpses and weeping relatives filled morgues in Haiti after Tropical Storm Jeanne left more than 600 people dead, another tragedy on this Caribbean island in a year marked by revolts, military interventions and deadly floods.

The death toll was expected to rise. Hardest hit was the northern city of Gonaives, where search crews continued to recover bodies carried away by the raging weekend floods or buried by mud or the ruins of their homes.Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, said at least 500 people had died in Gonaives.”I lost my kids and there’s nothing I can do,” said Jean Estimable, whose two-year-old daughter was killed and another of his five children was missing and presumed dead.”All I have is complete despair and the clothes I’m wearing,” he said, pointing to a floral dress and ripped pants borrowed from a neighbour.Floods are particularly devastating in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, because it is almost completely deforested, leaving few roots to hold back rushing waters or mudslides.Most of the trees have been chopped down to make charcoal for cooking.Many of the bodies stacked in Gonaives’ flood-damaged General Hospital were children.Residents waded through ankle-deep mud outside the mayor’s office, where doctors were treating the wounded and aid workers were helping a woman give birth.Elsewhere, 56 people were killed in northern Port-de-Paix and 17 died in the nearby town of Terre Neuve, officials said.Dieufort Deslorges, a spokesman for the government civil protection agency, reported another 49 bodies recovered in other villages and towns, most in the northwest.”We expect to find dozens more bodies, especially in Gonaives, as… floodwaters recede,” Deslorges said.The storm came four months after devastating floods along the southern border of Haiti and neighbouring Dominican Republic.Some 1 700 bodies were recovered and 1 600 more were missing and presumed dead.Gonaives, a city of about a quarter million people, also suffered fighting during the February rebellion that led to the ouster of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and left an estimated 300 dead.Three trucks carrying Red Cross relief supplies rolled in Monday, but two were mobbed by people who grabbed blankets and towels.U.N. troops stood by watching.Only one truck, carrying tents, arrived intact at the mayor’s office.People tripped over each other to grab tiny bags of water thrown from a Red Cross truck in front of City Hall, where officials said about 500 injured were treated Monday.- Nampa-APHardest hit was the northern city of Gonaives, where search crews continued to recover bodies carried away by the raging weekend floods or buried by mud or the ruins of their homes.Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, said at least 500 people had died in Gonaives.”I lost my kids and there’s nothing I can do,” said Jean Estimable, whose two-year-old daughter was killed and another of his five children was missing and presumed dead.”All I have is complete despair and the clothes I’m wearing,” he said, pointing to a floral dress and ripped pants borrowed from a neighbour.Floods are particularly devastating in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, because it is almost completely deforested, leaving few roots to hold back rushing waters or mudslides.Most of the trees have been chopped down to make charcoal for cooking.Many of the bodies stacked in Gonaives’ flood-damaged General Hospital were children.Residents waded through ankle-deep mud outside the mayor’s office, where doctors were treating the wounded and aid workers were helping a woman give birth.Elsewhere, 56 people were killed in northern Port-de-Paix and 17 died in the nearby town of Terre Neuve, officials said.Dieufort Deslorges, a spokesman for the government civil protection agency, reported another 49 bodies recovered in other villages and towns, most in the northwest.”We expect to find dozens more bodies, especially in Gonaives, as… floodwaters recede,” Deslorges said.The storm came four months after devastating floods along the southern border of Haiti and neighbouring Dominican Republic.Some 1 700 bodies were recovered and 1 600 more were missing and presumed dead.Gonaives, a city of about a quarter million people, also suffered fighting during the February rebellion that led to the ouster of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and left an estimated 300 dead.Three trucks carrying Red Cross relief supplies rolled in Monday, but two were mobbed by people who grabbed blankets and towels.U.N. troops stood by watching.Only one truck, carrying tents, arrived intact at the mayor’s office.People tripped over each other to grab tiny bags of water thrown from a Red Cross truck in front of City Hall, where officials said about 500 injured were treated Monday.- Nampa-AP