a1797: too much rain (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JHUDICOURTB@aol.com


The greater Port-au-Prince area is crumbling under the weight of water.  I
arrived here a week and a half ago.  It looked like it had rained a little
but the effects of the winter drought was still present.  Plants looked
exhausted but not dying.  Since then we have had one major rainstorm after
another.  It's almost like clock work.  By the time you go to bed there will
be a big rain storm.   Port-au-Prince can't take it.  The first really big
storm came on Wednesday the 17th.  It came early, during rush hour, 4 p.m and
stopped and started over again almost through the night.  Now the ground is
really saturated.  It's not just the trash showing up with the mud.  Now
homes are crumbling with the mud.  The Carrefour road, the Canape Vert Road,
the Route Freres/Delmas 105 all become flooded rivers when the water, rocks,
and mud come dowm from the side and cover the road. Last night's storm was
not extraordinary strong but there seem to be human casualties although the
media has not really reported it.  Through teledyol I heard that one school
child said there were 2 bodies in the ravine near her house in Petion Ville.
One woman told me today that in her neigborhood of  Pelerin (on the way to
Kenscoff) one family lost everything but a mattress when the house was washed
down the hill.  She says he has also seen a wall fall on top of a house, and
she personally just lays in bed and prays through the storms.  The various
torrents from the high areas of Petion Ville are carrying much more water and
debris than the bridges can take.  Route Freres risks being cut off:  every
night the small bridge after the Elf station is covered.  Although " Travaux
Public" came out and cleaned up some, the next morning it was a mess again.
Aristide is either staying home these days or he is taking a different route
to work.  Usually in the morning before his "cortege" went through, the
Freres Road would be inspected by a hovering helicopter, then his sirens
would go on and everything would stop to let the group speed by.  Speeding is
no longer possible on Route Freres.  Traffic jams are worsened by trash,
tires, rocks, mud and gaping wholes in the pavement.  The helicopter hasn't
been heard from for several days now.
I haven't been on Nationale Number 1 this week but I am guessing that the
mess may be happening there too.  Going North from Port-au-Prince on April
14th was very very sadly dry.  The mountains around the road from Bon Repos
to the Beach area were truly bare.  I saw  piles of roots being sold as
firewood in the road side markets.  This week I am sure that something must
have started to grow on those hills but I am also sure that new ravines have
rendered that area more difficult to travel through.
The good side of all of this is that you can almost see the corn grow.  And
the mango harvest is wonderful.