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900 Dead in Caribbean Flood
« on: May 28th, 2004, 10:51am » |
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At least 900 dead in Caribbean flooding
Whole towns, families wiped out in Haiti, Dominican Republic
Friday, May 28, 2004 Posted: 11:02 AM EDT (1502 GMT)
JIMANI, Dominican Republic (CNN) -- Forecasters are expecting more rain Friday in the flood-soaked regions of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where high waters have killed hundreds of people and left thousands more homeless.
As much as 3 inches of rain are expected on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which the two countries share.
The Red Cross said the death toll in Haiti and the Dominican Republic has risen to at least 900 and 15,000 people have nowhere to live.
Violent storms hit the two nations last weekend, washing away hundreds of homes and destroying crops and livestock.
The Red Cross has launched an appeal for $725,000 to help thousands of people affected by the flooding. (Map)
U.S. and Canadian troops have rushed medical supplies and drinking water to waterlogged towns. The U.S. Office of Civil Defense also was sending food and clothes -- packed into a dozen helicopters. Other nations also have sent aid.
U.S. troops have been stationed in Haiti since Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left office in February.
"We're working with the government of Haiti to determine what supplies they have and our helicopters will be utilized to begin the flow of material into this area," said Col. Glen Sachtleben, chief of staff of the U.S.-led multinational forces in Haiti.
Amy Bracken, a journalist in Haiti, said the country's Civil Protection Agency feared more than 1,000 people died in a single town.
"The river took everything, there isn't anything left," survivor Jermanie Vulsont told The Associated Press in the Haitian border town of Fond Verrettes. Vulsont said her five children had been swept away in the floodwaters, the AP reported.
Stunned survivors were lining up for food from troops and asking for help. Lance Cpl. Justin Collins, a Marine from Avon, Illinois, told the AP that it took time to understand the scope of the tragedy.
"For a while we didn't even realize what we were standing on," Collins told the AP. "We were standing on some parts of a neighborhood. It's clear they need more food and water."
Dominican Republic President Hipolito Mejia flew to his country's hardest-hit town of Jimani to see the destruction firsthand and declared Friday a nationwide day of mourning.
Jimani, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) from the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, is inhabited mostly by Haitian migrants. The town is near the border with Haiti.
"We've been told that in some places, 200 homes have been washed away," said U.S. Ambassador Hans Hertell after surveying the town. "It's pretty grim."
Leonardo Novas, 28, told the AP that he awoke to the screams of his infant son as water rose through his house in Jimani.
The moving mud took out all walls of Novas' home except one, the AP reported. "Everything's gone," Novas told the AP. "My house and five family members."
Gen. Jose Maria Jimenez of the Dominican Republic Army said the total damage has not yet been realized.
"Even though the press has done a good job of informing the public about the tragedy, I believe the people don't have a good idea of the magnitude of this tragedy, which has affected Jimani," Jimenez said.
Interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue blamed deforestation for the flooding.
"The forest up through here has been completely destroyed. I say completely, but probably by 80 percent, and the root of the problem is that we have to go and reforest the hill and until we do that, every two, three, four years after some heavy rain the same thing could happen again," Latortue said.
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