HAITI: Heavy flooding hits Haitian capital in wake of Isaac.

Record ID: 860848

  • Title: HAITI: Heavy flooding hits Haitian capital in wake of Isaac.
  • Date: 25th August 2012
  • Summary: MATTRAS RESTING ON CHAIRES AND FURNITURE SO THAT IT DOES NOT GET WET WOMAN CARRYING ITEMS THROUGH FLOOD WATER MAN REMOVING ITEMS FROM FLOODED HOME
  • Embargoed: 9th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti
  • City:
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: Disasters,Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVA5EXO4V4E168KK1WWPW3Q0NAO0
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Tropical Storm Isaac drenches Haiti, swelling rivers and flooding the capital Port-au-Prince.


    Tropical Storm Isaac dumped torrential rains on Haiti and flattened tent camps housing survivors of a devastating earthquake on Saturday (August 25).
    Isaac killed at least two people in Haiti and was expected to strengthen into a hurricane before hitting the Florida Keys on Sunday and crossing into the Gulf of Mexico.
    Haitian rivers swelled in the aftermath of the storm as rains continued to drench the impoverished country.
    "Since five o'clock this morning the water started to come down heavy. I've made a decision to only vacate the children and put them in a safe place. Our homes have been flooded and not for the first time. So, I am asking for the government to come to our neighbourhood and do something to protect against the river," said Kalen Justin, a resident of Port-au-Prince whose home was flooded.
    "The water destroyed everything that I have. All of our clothes gone. I don't have any other place to go. I just don't know what to do," added Elsie Pierre, as she and her relatives tried to salvage their belongings from the flood waters.
    The United Nations mission said it was prepared to distribute food and emergency supplies for more than 300,000 people, and 10,000 U.N. troops, including several engineering units, stood ready to clear roads for emergency response teams.
    The government and aid groups tried to evacuate thousands of tent camp dwellers on Friday but many Haitians chose to remain in their flimsy, makeshift homes, apparently fearing they would be robbed.
    Flooding and mudslides were still a threat in Haiti, where many people scrape by on less than $1 per day in the poorest country in the Americas. Flooding could also reignite a cholera epidemic, which has killed more than 7,500 people in Haiti since the disease first appeared in October 2010, aid workers said.
    A 10-year-old girl was killed in Port-au-Prince when a wall fell on her and a woman in the southern coastal city of Jacmel was crushed to death when a tree fell on her house, government officials said.
    Fueled by warm Gulf waters, Isaac was forecast to strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane with 100-mph (160-kph) winds and hit the U.S. coast somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and New Orleans at midweek.
    Isaac's march toward the Gulf comes as U.S. Republicans prepare to gather in Tampa, on Florida's central Gulf Coast, for Monday's start of their national convention ahead of the November presidential election. The convention is expected to proceed as planned.
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