23197: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Storm (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   GONAIVES, Sept 21 (AP) -- 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 U.N. 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 2-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 neighbor.
   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's 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 neighboring 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.
   All this in a year supposed to be dedicated to celebrating the 200th
anniversary of the country's independence from France. Haiti, the only
country to launch a successful rebellion against slavery, was the world's
first black republic.
   Two days after lashing Haiti, Jeanne regained hurricane strength over
the Atlantic on Monday but posed no immediate threat to land. The storm
entered the Caribbean last week, killing seven people in Puerto Rico before
heading to the Dominican Republic where it killed at least 18.
   The overall death toll was 647, of which 622 were in Haiti.
   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," she said.
   Waterlines up to 10 feet high showed the passage of the storm waters,
which turned some roads into fast-flowing rivers. Floodwaters destroyed
homes and crops in the Artibonite region that is Haiti's breadbasket.
   Deslorges described the situation in Gonaives as "catastrophic." He said
survivors "need everything from potable water to food, clothing, medication
and disinfectants."
   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 arrived intact at the mayor's office
intact with tents.
   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.
   "Everyone is desperate," said Pelissier Heber of the Artibonite Chamber
of Commerce.
   Argentine troops who are among more than 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers in
Haiti treated at least 150 people injured by the floods in Gonaives, mostly
for cuts on feet and legs.
   One man stood outside the flooded base used by Argentine troops, asking
soldiers to remove 11 bodies that were floating in his house, including
four brothers and a sister.
   "I would like to see if the soldiers could do something about these
bodies," said Jean-Saint Manus, a 30-year-old student. "The door was
closed. Everybody was trapped inside."
   He said he had been outside and could only get in once the floods
subsided.
   Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue toured flooded areas Sunday and
declared Gonaives a disaster area, calling for aid. The U.S. Embassy
announced $60,000 in immediate relief.
   In the Dominican Republic, at least 11 people drowned Monday in rivers
swollen by Jeanne's heavy rains.
   At 5 a.m. EDT, Jeanne was about 445 miles east of Great Abaco Island in
the Bahamas. It was moving east-northeast, with winds near 90 mph.
   Meanwhile, Hurricane Karl and Tropical Storm Lisa remained far out in
the Atlantic. Karl's sustained winds were 140 mph, making it a Category 4
hurricane. Lisa had winds of 60 mph.
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   On the Net:
   http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
   http://www.wunderground.com/tropical