Tropical storm in Haiti is 'as bad as it can be'
More than 100 have died in storms there in the last three weeks. Hanna's next stop: U.S.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAINT-MARC, Haiti - Haitian families scrambled onto rooftops and screamed for help yesterday in a city flooded by Tropical Storm Hanna, as U.N. peacekeepers and rescue convoys tried in vain to reach them.
Iris Norsil, 20, managed to flee the western coastal city of Gonaives and told the Associated Press that people there were isolated by muddy waters as evening fell, many seeking refuge on rooftops as wind gusts drove horizontal sheets of rain that flooded roads and buildings.
"They are screaming for help," Norsil said as a U.N. aid convoy tried unsuccessfully to drive into Gonaives.
A convoy carrying Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis had to abandon efforts at getting into the town when one of the cars was nearly swept away, said Julian Frantz, a Haitian police officer.
"The situation is as bad as it can be," said Vadre Louis, a U.N. official in Gonaives. "The wind is ripping up trees. Houses are flooded with water. Cars can't drive on the street. You can't rescue anyone, wherever they may be."
Hanna's maximum sustained winds slipped to 65 m.p.h. yesterday, but the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said it could regain hurricane strength and turn toward the east coast of Florida, Georgia or South Carolina in two to three days.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Ike was cruising westward across the Atlantic with top winds of 60 m.p.h., projected to near the Bahamas by Sunday as a hurricane. Just behind it was Tropical Storm Josephine, with top winds of about 40 m.p.h. and forecasters said it could near hurricane force by today or tomorrow.
In Haiti, people clutched mattresses, chairs and other belongings as they slogged through waist-high floodwaters. The known death toll in northern Haiti was 13.
The country is still recovering from drenchings by Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Fay in the last two weeks. In all, floods and mudslides from the three storms have killed more than 100 people as Haiti's deforested hills melted away in the torrential rains.
Hanna swirled slowly through the southern Bahamas yesterday, lingering over the island of Great Inagua for hours, toppling power lines but otherwise doing little damage.
There were reports of heavy winds stripping shingles from roofs and knocking down trees, but no injuries, said Chrystal Glinton, a spokeswoman for the Bahamas' National Emergency Management Agency.
"Everyone is alive and well," Glinton said. "The damage has been minimal."
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