23187: (Chamberlain) Jeanne kills 100 plus (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   GONAIVES, Sept 20 (AP) -- Raging floodwaters from Tropical Storm Jeanne
killed more than 100 people in Haiti, where roads and fields were still
inundated Monday and survivors were taking to rooftops and trees days after
the storm passed.
   The confirmed death toll, mostly in northwestern Haiti, rose to at least
109 Monday based on reports from government and humanitarian officials.
Officials said they expect the toll to rise further.
   Jeanne was churning over the open Atlantic east of the Bahamas and was
forecast to strengthen over open seas this week, heading away from the U.S.
mainland.
   But officials in Haiti were still trying to determine the toll from
flooding that swept over parts of the country Saturday after Jeanne swept
by.
   In the northwestern coastal town of Gonaives, Haiti's third largest city
of about a quarter million people, people on Monday waded through
ankle-deep mud outside the mayor's office, where workers were shoveling out
mud. Aid workers inside helped a woman give birth.
   Floodwaters covered crops and turned roads into rivers in the town and
surrounding areas.
   Katya Silme, 18, said she, her mother and six siblings spent the night
in a tree because their house was flooded.
   "The river destroyed my house completely, and now we have nothing. We
have not eaten anything since the floods. We have no money and we need
food," said Silme, who added that she had seen many neighbors swept away in
the waters Saturday.
   Nearby two dead children, their faces covered with cloth, lay on a porch
just above the receding waters. The water was still near knee-deep in
places.
   Rev. Venel Suffrard, director of the Catholic humanitarian agency
Caritas in Gonaives, said his workers had picked up 62 bodies in pickup
trucks and counted another 18 at a morgue in Gonaives alone.
   Floodwaters also left much destruction and at least 24 dead in the
northwestern town of Chansolme, civil protection director Maria Alta
Jean-Baptiste said. She also reported at least four dead in northwestern
Port-de-Paix and one dead elsewhere in the south.
   The deaths came four months after devastating May floods along the
southern border of Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic. In those
floods some 1,700 bodies were recovered and 1,600 more people were missing
and presumed dead.
   Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and his interior minister toured
the area in a U.N. truck Sunday, but were not able to reach many areas
because of washed out roads.
   "We don't know how many dead there are," Latortue said, adding "2004 has
been a terrible year."
   In February, a three-week rebellion led up to the ouster of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and left an estimated 300 dead.
   Floods are often particularly devastating in Haiti because it is almost
completely deforested and unable to hold back floodwaters.
   The floods caught residents by surprise Saturday night. Jean-Baptiste
Agilus, a 46-year-old teacher, said he watched the deluge engulf houses in
his neighborhood, filling some with 13 feet of water.
   Agilus said he saw his neighbor running from his house, saying his wife
and two children, ages 12 and 15, were swept away in the rising waters.
   "The water rushed into their home, all the homes in the neighborhood,"
he said. "It destroyed everything."
   Many families, with nowhere else to turn, remained on their flat
concrete rooftops surrounded by bundles of belongings.
   Officials reported at least 388 people injured in Gonaives alone, and
hundreds were forced from their homes.
   No doctors staffed Gonaives' main hospital, but it was being used as a
morgue.
   Latortue declared Gonaives a disaster area and urged the international
community to provide immediate humanitarian aid. More than 3,000 U.N.
peacekeeping troops are in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country
with a population of 8 million.
   Tropical Storm Jeanne has been blamed for at least 119 deaths. Seven
died in neighboring Dominican Republic and three in Puerto Rico.
   At 11 a.m. EDT, Jeanne was centered about 345 miles east of Great Abaco
Island in the Bahamas, with sustained winds near 65 mph, moving
north-northeast at about 7 mph. Forecasters said Jeanne still could regain
hurricane status, though it was headed out into the open Atlantic.
   Meanwhile, Hurricane Karl and Tropical Storm Lisa remained far out in
the open Atlantic and were not immediate threats to land. Karl's sustained
winds diminished to 120 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane. Lisa had
winds of 60 mph.
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   On the Net:
   http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
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