I was able to talk to Luc today and he confirmed that he received money that we had wired last week and also that sent via Bob Wakeland who had a planned trip prior to the flood with a group going south of Gonaives. Luc was able to meet with him today and get the money we had sent him. He was in Saint Marc buying supplies when I spoke to him.
His request was continued Prayer for all of those impacted by the flood.
They are living in less than acceptable conditions in the mission house that was under construction before the flood, no drinking water and no toilet facilities.
We continue to need $$ resources, to impact this crisis.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Pictures From Luc
Picture to the left is the 3rd story building roof where Luc his family and 25 Orphans escaped the flood.s
The house to the left is almost unrecognizable as Luc's rental house, the house had walls 8' high that enclosed the home, now thats gone.
It's dry compared to what they have been experiencing, now part of the sleeping arrangement's for Luc's family and 25 Orphans.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
A city trying to deal with the aftermath of Flooding.
Click on link below or copy and paste the link in your Browser.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvcizzZw728
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvcizzZw728
Some Relief Arrives Click on You Tube Link
Click on or Copy and paste this link in your browser and watch this You Tube Video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sygFl7dwO48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sygFl7dwO48
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Roads are Closed & Bridges Out
Gonaives is cut off from the rest of Haiti by land. The roads at present are impassible from the south to the north of Saint Marc and from the east at Ennery.
The Port at Gonaives is in shambles, and the UN can not unload because of security problems. Despirate people do despirate things.
Pray that God makes a way to get relief to the people of Gonaives.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
More die as a result of storm.
By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 9, 3:13 AM ET
GONAIVES, Haiti - Nine people died in shelters in this marooned city desperate for relief supplies, even as waters from Hurricane Ike receded and a U.S. Navy ship dispatched amphibious boats to deliver food.
Two children were among the dead at shelters across Gonaives on Monday, said Daniel Dupiton of region's civil protection department. It was not immediately clear what caused those deaths.
Thousands have taken refuge in schools, churches and homes on high ground, many with scant supplies or supervision.
"We cannot confirm that they died because of hunger," said Vicky Delore Ndjeuga, a U.N. spokesman for the mission in Gonaives. "We need to make an examination to make sure it was because of food."
With most roads across the country still impassible, Haiti — and the world — still lacked a complete picture of the destruction, and desperation was setting in among people who have spent days in the floodwaters and mud.
Aid groups are appealing for donations to sustain a lengthy response, warning of a secondary disaster caused by waterborne illnesses and other problems in the weeks ahead.
The death toll — which government officials said stood at 331 people in four tropical storms in less than a month — is sure to rise as more bodies surface in the mud.
Two more bodies were found Monday in coastal Cabaret, where 60 people died as mudslides and floods unleashed by a swollen river crushed homes in the middle of the night. Sixteen others were missing, mostly children.
Late Monday, authorities confirmed 10 more deaths, five attributed to Ike and five to Tropical Storm Hanna.
In Gonaives, Police Commissioner Ernst Dorfeuille said his poorly equipped force — 15 officers for the city of 160,000 — has buried dozens of badly decomposed and unidentifiable corpses in graves outside the city.
"After three days, those bodies could not stay," said Dorfeuille, adding he witnessed the burial of five people.
It wasn't clear how these bodies fit with previous tallies of the dead, but Dorfeuille denied reports citing him as giving a death toll of nearly 500 in Gonaives.
On one city street, a man used a rope to drag a bloated body through the floodwaters.
Hard-hit Gonaives, north of the capital, remained cut off by land. Red Cross trucks trying to reach Gonaives and Les Cayes on Haiti's southern coast had to turn back, one of many international aid efforts still struggling to leave the capital.
Broken pews were scattered across the mud-smeared floor of the Gonaives cathedral, where about 50 people now live in the choir balcony. They gathered around a small cooking pot, stirring some goat meat and cornmeal to share.
Meanwhile, inmates at the city's jail clamored for deliverance from the overpowering stench of filth and sewage, and supplies for jail staff and U.N. peacekeepers as well as the 224 inmates were perilously low, said Dr. Manvoor Ahmad, a Pakistani member of the U.N. mission.
The USS Kearsarge arrived in Port-au-Prince Monday after it was rerouted from a humanitarian mission to Colombia. With eight helicopters and three landing ships, it can deliver cargo and equipment all over Haiti, providing much of the logistical support needed by aid groups that have not been able to get through on land.
But even the Kearsarge was frustrated in its effort to bring prompt relief to Gonaives.
The ship spent most of Monday heading into port, sending helicopters ahead to find places around the city large and secure enough to offload. None were identified.
Two helicopters carrying with rice, beans and cooking oil from the World Food Program headed instead to the town of Jeremie on Haiti's southwest peninsula, also cut off by flooding.
A woman who cares for 110 children at the Haiti Gospel orphanage was among about 50 people asking for a share of the rice, beans and cooking oil from the World Food Program.
"My garden was destroyed," said Yvros Pierre, who had just two bags of spoiled bread mix left. "My food is finished. My boss told me to see if there were any Americans coming and ask them for help."
The Kearsage finally docked in Port-au-Prince in the evening, loading the amphibious ships with food for an overnight trip to Gonaive and hard-hit Saint Marc.
"We can deliver several thousand tons a day. It's not what we can do, it's how it can be done," said the mission's commander, Capt. Fernandez "Frank" Ponds.
___
Associated Press Writer Alexandra Olson, with a helicopter crew from the USS Kearsarge, contributed to this report.
GONAIVES, Haiti - Nine people died in shelters in this marooned city desperate for relief supplies, even as waters from Hurricane Ike receded and a U.S. Navy ship dispatched amphibious boats to deliver food.
Two children were among the dead at shelters across Gonaives on Monday, said Daniel Dupiton of region's civil protection department. It was not immediately clear what caused those deaths.
Thousands have taken refuge in schools, churches and homes on high ground, many with scant supplies or supervision.
"We cannot confirm that they died because of hunger," said Vicky Delore Ndjeuga, a U.N. spokesman for the mission in Gonaives. "We need to make an examination to make sure it was because of food."
With most roads across the country still impassible, Haiti — and the world — still lacked a complete picture of the destruction, and desperation was setting in among people who have spent days in the floodwaters and mud.
Aid groups are appealing for donations to sustain a lengthy response, warning of a secondary disaster caused by waterborne illnesses and other problems in the weeks ahead.
The death toll — which government officials said stood at 331 people in four tropical storms in less than a month — is sure to rise as more bodies surface in the mud.
Two more bodies were found Monday in coastal Cabaret, where 60 people died as mudslides and floods unleashed by a swollen river crushed homes in the middle of the night. Sixteen others were missing, mostly children.
Late Monday, authorities confirmed 10 more deaths, five attributed to Ike and five to Tropical Storm Hanna.
In Gonaives, Police Commissioner Ernst Dorfeuille said his poorly equipped force — 15 officers for the city of 160,000 — has buried dozens of badly decomposed and unidentifiable corpses in graves outside the city.
"After three days, those bodies could not stay," said Dorfeuille, adding he witnessed the burial of five people.
It wasn't clear how these bodies fit with previous tallies of the dead, but Dorfeuille denied reports citing him as giving a death toll of nearly 500 in Gonaives.
On one city street, a man used a rope to drag a bloated body through the floodwaters.
Hard-hit Gonaives, north of the capital, remained cut off by land. Red Cross trucks trying to reach Gonaives and Les Cayes on Haiti's southern coast had to turn back, one of many international aid efforts still struggling to leave the capital.
Broken pews were scattered across the mud-smeared floor of the Gonaives cathedral, where about 50 people now live in the choir balcony. They gathered around a small cooking pot, stirring some goat meat and cornmeal to share.
Meanwhile, inmates at the city's jail clamored for deliverance from the overpowering stench of filth and sewage, and supplies for jail staff and U.N. peacekeepers as well as the 224 inmates were perilously low, said Dr. Manvoor Ahmad, a Pakistani member of the U.N. mission.
The USS Kearsarge arrived in Port-au-Prince Monday after it was rerouted from a humanitarian mission to Colombia. With eight helicopters and three landing ships, it can deliver cargo and equipment all over Haiti, providing much of the logistical support needed by aid groups that have not been able to get through on land.
But even the Kearsarge was frustrated in its effort to bring prompt relief to Gonaives.
The ship spent most of Monday heading into port, sending helicopters ahead to find places around the city large and secure enough to offload. None were identified.
Two helicopters carrying with rice, beans and cooking oil from the World Food Program headed instead to the town of Jeremie on Haiti's southwest peninsula, also cut off by flooding.
A woman who cares for 110 children at the Haiti Gospel orphanage was among about 50 people asking for a share of the rice, beans and cooking oil from the World Food Program.
"My garden was destroyed," said Yvros Pierre, who had just two bags of spoiled bread mix left. "My food is finished. My boss told me to see if there were any Americans coming and ask them for help."
The Kearsage finally docked in Port-au-Prince in the evening, loading the amphibious ships with food for an overnight trip to Gonaive and hard-hit Saint Marc.
"We can deliver several thousand tons a day. It's not what we can do, it's how it can be done," said the mission's commander, Capt. Fernandez "Frank" Ponds.
___
Associated Press Writer Alexandra Olson, with a helicopter crew from the USS Kearsarge, contributed to this report.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
More Flooding Ike Hits Haiti
I talked to Luc Joseph at 2:30pm today. He said hurrican Ike was causing more flooding, even at his new house construction site. At the time his family and the Orphans were on the roof of the house, the wind was blowing hard causing the phone connection to be difficult. However he did say he was able to buy some food for the children.
Haiti gets more of the same.
Ike's floods add insult to Haiti's misery, kill 10 from The Associated Press.
Residents leave the area in the back of a pick-up truck after heavy rains in Gonaives, Haiti, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008. Hurricane Ike damaged most of the homes on Grand Turk island as it roared onto the Bahamas, raked Haiti's flooded cities with rain and threatened the Florida Keys on its way to Cuba as a ferocious Category 4 storm Sunday.
Residents wade through a flooded street after heavy rains in Gonaives, Haiti, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008. Hurricane Ike damaged most of the homes on Grand Turk island as it roared onto the Bahamas, raked Haiti's flooded cities with rain and threatened the Florida Keys on its way to Cuba as a ferocious Category 4 storm Sunday.
Residents wade through a flooded street after heavy rains in Gonaives, Haiti, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008. Hurricane Ike damaged most of the homes on Grand Turk island as it roared onto the Bahamas, raked Haiti's flooded cities with rain and threatened the Florida Keys on its way to Cuba as a ferocious Category 4 storm Sunday
Haitians took to their roofs to escape rising floodwaters Sunday for the second time in a week as squalls from Hurricane Ike added insult to their misery, inundating homes and collapsing a bridge on the last open land route for aid to the desperate city.
Five adults and five children drowned overnight in the coastal town of Cabaret north of Port-au-Prince, civil protection director Marie-Alta Jean Baptiste said, raising Haiti's overall death toll to 262 from four tropical storms in recent weeks.
Above Haiti's coastal floodplain, in the Artibonite Valley, authorities prepared to open an overflowing dam, inundating more homes and possibly causing lasting damage to Haiti's "rice bowl," a key farming area whose revival is key to rescuing the starving country.
Associated Press © 2008
Residents leave the area in the back of a pick-up truck after heavy rains in Gonaives, Haiti, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008. Hurricane Ike damaged most of the homes on Grand Turk island as it roared onto the Bahamas, raked Haiti's flooded cities with rain and threatened the Florida Keys on its way to Cuba as a ferocious Category 4 storm Sunday.
Residents wade through a flooded street after heavy rains in Gonaives, Haiti, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008. Hurricane Ike damaged most of the homes on Grand Turk island as it roared onto the Bahamas, raked Haiti's flooded cities with rain and threatened the Florida Keys on its way to Cuba as a ferocious Category 4 storm Sunday.
Residents wade through a flooded street after heavy rains in Gonaives, Haiti, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008. Hurricane Ike damaged most of the homes on Grand Turk island as it roared onto the Bahamas, raked Haiti's flooded cities with rain and threatened the Florida Keys on its way to Cuba as a ferocious Category 4 storm SundayHaitians took to their roofs to escape rising floodwaters Sunday for the second time in a week as squalls from Hurricane Ike added insult to their misery, inundating homes and collapsing a bridge on the last open land route for aid to the desperate city.
Five adults and five children drowned overnight in the coastal town of Cabaret north of Port-au-Prince, civil protection director Marie-Alta Jean Baptiste said, raising Haiti's overall death toll to 262 from four tropical storms in recent weeks.
Above Haiti's coastal floodplain, in the Artibonite Valley, authorities prepared to open an overflowing dam, inundating more homes and possibly causing lasting damage to Haiti's "rice bowl," a key farming area whose revival is key to rescuing the starving country.
Associated Press © 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
CNN Reports
GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) -- A ship carrying 33 tons of U.N. relief supplies managed to dock Friday, the first significant aid delivery after four days without food or water for thousands of survivors from Tropical Storm HannaSoldiers with assault rifles stood guard in the crumbling port while dockworkers offloaded 15 metric tons of relief supplies from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The container ship was loaded with bottled water, 36,000 water-purification tablets, 16 metric tons of high-energy biscuits and 2 metric tons of rice, along with cooking oil and other supplies managed by the U.N. World Food Program.
Belching white smoke from its stack, the Tres Rivieres ship was able to dock after the Argentine soldiers worked through the night with heavy equipment to drop boulders into a gap in the pier left by the storm. They aimed to distribute the biscuits and water within hours to emergency shelters, where 40,000 people were marooned and increasingly desperate.
Hanna's floodwaters inundated more than half the homes in Haiti's fourth-largest city when it struck on Monday, and corpses surfaced in the muddy wreckage Friday as floodwaters receded, raising the known death toll to 137.
But the break in the weather is expected to be short -- Hurricane Ike, now a Category 3 hurricane -- could sideswipe Haiti this weekend, even as international aid groups struggle to reach thousands of victims.
"I am worried because the soil is completely impregnated with water, and there is no way for the rivers to take more water," said Max Cocsi, who directs Belgium's mission in Haiti of Doctors Without Borders. "We don't need a hurricane -- a storm would be enough."
Cocsi, who arrived in Gonaives on Thursday, told The Associated Press that no one knows how many have been killed. The focus now is on reaching the living, not recovering bodies.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Views of the Gonaives Area Flooding
Some 250,000 people are affected in the Gonaives region, including 70,000 in 150 shelters across the city, according to an international official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Hanna's death toll rises to 137 in Haiti
9/4/2008, 9:57 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's government says the death toll from Tropical Storm Hanna has more than doubled to 137, with most of the deaths coming in the flooded port city of Gonaives.
The Ministry of the Interior and the Civil Protection Department issued statements Thursday saying that 80 of the deaths were in Gonaives, which has been almost entirely cut off by floodwaters from Hanna.
Virtual lakes have formed over every road in the city and officials are attempting to get food and water to residents who were stranded.
Another 22 deaths were confirmed in areas immediately surrounding the coastal city.
The rest of the deaths were scattered across the country.
The previous death toll had been 61
© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
The Associated Press
GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's government says the death toll from Tropical Storm Hanna has more than doubled to 137, with most of the deaths coming in the flooded port city of Gonaives.
The Ministry of the Interior and the Civil Protection Department issued statements Thursday saying that 80 of the deaths were in Gonaives, which has been almost entirely cut off by floodwaters from Hanna.
Virtual lakes have formed over every road in the city and officials are attempting to get food and water to residents who were stranded.
Another 22 deaths were confirmed in areas immediately surrounding the coastal city.
The rest of the deaths were scattered across the country.
The previous death toll had been 61
© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Rescuers can't get aid to starving Haitian city
Posted on Thu, Sep. 04, 2008By JONATHAN M. KATZ
Associated Press Writer
GONAIVES, Haiti --
The convoy rumbled out of the U.N. base toward a flooded, starving and seething city Thursday, carrying some of the first food aid since Tropical Storm Hanna drowned Gonaives in muddy water three days ago.
Hungry children at three orphanages were waiting for the canvas-topped trucks, loaded with warm pots of rice and beans and towing giant tanks of drinking water.
The trucks didn't make it.
The convoy crept over mud-caked, semi-paved roads past closed stores, overturned buses and women wading in water up to their knees with plastic tubs on their heads.
After about 45 minutes, the half-dozen trucks ground to a halt. U.N. peacekeepers wearing camouflage fatigues and bulletproof vests jumped out while others stood guard with assault rifles.
Before them, a huge gouge marred the road. The floods had split the asphalt, and water ran through the 10-foot-wide (3-meter-wide) gap.
The convoy turned around. And the children - like tens of thousands more in this increasingly desperate city - went another day without food.
Some 250,000 people are affected in the Gonaives region, including 70,000 in 150 shelters across the city, according to an international official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. Argentine Lt. Sergio Hoj estimated that half of Gonaives' houses remained flooded Thursday.
Many houses were torn apart. Families huddled on rooftops, their possessions laid out to dry. Overturned cars were everywhere, and televisions floated in the brown water.
Gonaives - a collection of concrete buildings, run-down shacks and plazas with dilapidated fountains - lies in a flat river plain between the ocean and deforested mountains that run with mud even in light rains. Hanna swirled over Haiti for four days, dumping vast amounts of water, blowing down fruit trees and ruining stores of food as it swamped tin-roofed houses.
The official death toll rose to 61 on Thursday as Hanna finally moved north with near hurricane-force winds on a path toward the southeastern U.S. coast. But in the chaos there was no way to know how many people might be dead, or how many had been driven from their homes. Two other storms killed 85 people in August, and forecasters warned that fearsome Hurricane Ike could hit Haiti next week.
Haiti's government has few resources to help. Rescue convoys have been blocked by floodwaters, although the U.N. World Food Program said Thursday it was sending a food-laden boat to Gonaives from the capital, Port-au-Prince, and would set up a base in the stricken city.
In the capital, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mari Tolliver said $250,000 in relief supplies arrived in Haiti Thursday, including jugs of drinking water, and would be sent to Gonaives by boat or plane.
"The idea is to get it there within the next day or two. Every effort is being made," she said, adding that another $100,000 will be used to buy bedding, kitchen items and other goods for victims.
"The situation in Gonaives is catastrophic," Daniel Rouzier, Haiti chairman of Food for the Poor, wrote in an e-mail. "We, just like the rest of the victims ... have limited mobility. You can't float a boat, drive a truck or fly anything to the victims."
Anger and frustration was growing at the inability or unwillingness of the government and the international community to help.
"If they don't have food, it can be dangerous," warned Sen. Youri Latortue, who flew in by helicopter. "They can't wait."
Dozens of people gathered around the gates of the U.N. base. Some children climbed cinderblock walls topped by barbed wire to ask soldiers inside for food. Edgy U.N. peacekeepers went on a heightened state of alert, and have traded their floppy hats for helmets.
Ad Melkert, associate administrator of the U.N. Development Program who just returned from Haiti, admonished international donors to do more.
"The poverty in the rain and mud of Haiti that I witnessed is nothing less than a disgrace," he said. "Many actors or potential actors try to play their part, ranging from the national government to multilateral and bilateral donors and NGOS. They all need to do more and better."
The few aid-group representatives in Gonaives did what they could - but knew it wasn't enough.
A local coordinator for the Florida-based Food for the Poor charity sailed through the flooded streets in a 22-foot fishing boat and picked up survivors, including two men struggling to keep afloat.
"The whole town is destroyed," Bernard Chauvet told The Associated Press over his cell phone as he headed for dry land, his boat jammed with 22 people including a pregnant woman and several crying children.
"These people lost everything," he said. "They have no water, no food. It is very bad."
Up to 400 people huddled in the Roman Catholic Church and the residence of Bishop Yves-Marie Pean, turning it into a de facto refugee camp. Many camped out on the watery grounds, while the lucky ones rested on chapel pews.
"We have shared with them what we had, but now we don't have food or drinking water," Pean said by telephone. "What is left is for the babies. We are praying together in solidarity in this very difficult moment."
Chantal Pierre, 19, somehow made it to the gates of the U.N. base, which is occupied by mostly Argentine troops. Soldiers carried her on a stretcher into a gym and laid her gently down. She went into labor amid the weightlifting equipment.
Minutes later, at a makeshift hospital on the base, she gave birth to a healthy girl.
A day earlier, Dorlean Nadege, 26, had given birth at the same place. Both babies slept in their mothers' arms Thursday. The doctor, Julio Cesar Lotero, said Pierre would leave on Friday, but Nadege would stay because her home was destroyed by floodwaters.
"She has to stay here," he said. "She has nowhere to go."
Associated Press writers Danica Coto and David McFadden in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.
Food & Water
Dear Friends in Christ
Pray that God would provide a miracle in the form of food and water and safety, for Luc’s family and the 25 children in his care. The largest city is cut off at present even the UN cannot access the area to provide aid. It will require your prayers and Gods hand to meet the daily needs of those in distress.
Haiti simply has no infrastructure, and although they have appointed officials to meet the needs of the people in crisis the reality is much worse than most Americans can imagine.
Pray that God would move is all that Luc has asked for in my last 2 conversations with him.
We want to help but sometimes we are frustrated when we can do nothing immediate but pray, don’t be frustrated, PRAY.
If God speaks to you to help, the best help at present is money. It will take 30 days to ship supplies and we may well do that but it takes $ donations to make any of this possible.
We do need cash relief funds.
WORLD RENEWAL INTL
PO BOX 399, GREENFIELD, IN 46140.
317-467-9899
LOVED ONES IN HAITI is the relief fund.
The quickest method is checks by phone. We can receive Master and Visa cards however there is a delay in receiving those funds from the card service.
All funds received will be used without WRI taking any administration fees.
Max R Wright
World Renewal International Haiti-Rep
Pray that God would provide a miracle in the form of food and water and safety, for Luc’s family and the 25 children in his care. The largest city is cut off at present even the UN cannot access the area to provide aid. It will require your prayers and Gods hand to meet the daily needs of those in distress.
Haiti simply has no infrastructure, and although they have appointed officials to meet the needs of the people in crisis the reality is much worse than most Americans can imagine.
Pray that God would move is all that Luc has asked for in my last 2 conversations with him.
We want to help but sometimes we are frustrated when we can do nothing immediate but pray, don’t be frustrated, PRAY.
If God speaks to you to help, the best help at present is money. It will take 30 days to ship supplies and we may well do that but it takes $ donations to make any of this possible.
We do need cash relief funds.
WORLD RENEWAL INTL
PO BOX 399, GREENFIELD, IN 46140.
317-467-9899
LOVED ONES IN HAITI is the relief fund.
The quickest method is checks by phone. We can receive Master and Visa cards however there is a delay in receiving those funds from the card service.
All funds received will be used without WRI taking any administration fees.
Max R Wright
World Renewal International Haiti-Rep
Hosung Solutions
Present location of Family and 25 Orphanage Children.
Luc’s Mission House is under construction. It is presently 60% completed. The compound has exterior walls and gate for security. The house has walls, roof and steel doors and barred windows. There are no electric, plumbing, nor are the walls or floors finished at present. It is safe and on higher ground. We estimate that it will take an additional $10,000 to finish the house. The cost have sky rocked since the Oil prices have gone up, the cost of gas in Haiti was up to $7.00 in July.
There is a piece of land next to this property that we would like to purchase and build an Orphanage. We feel that it would be a good, safe place to have an Orphanage, school and church for the near future. Under present pricing it will cost approximately $80,000 to build the Orphanage and buy the land which has tripled in price since Luc purchased the land next door in the last 4 years.
Luc’s Mission House is under construction. It is presently 60% completed. The compound has exterior walls and gate for security. The house has walls, roof and steel doors and barred windows. There are no electric, plumbing, nor are the walls or floors finished at present. It is safe and on higher ground. We estimate that it will take an additional $10,000 to finish the house. The cost have sky rocked since the Oil prices have gone up, the cost of gas in Haiti was up to $7.00 in July.
There is a piece of land next to this property that we would like to purchase and build an Orphanage. We feel that it would be a good, safe place to have an Orphanage, school and church for the near future. Under present pricing it will cost approximately $80,000 to build the Orphanage and buy the land which has tripled in price since Luc purchased the land next door in the last 4 years.
Made Contact with Luc
This morning I was able to make contact with Luc for the first time. They have all made it out alive, of the city of Gonaives to the construction site of their new house. They were able to feed the children last night with the food they brought with them. But now they have no food or water. All the systems of the city of down. No market, no banking, no water plant, no electic. Pray for a miricle that God will provide where there is no provision.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Entrance to the City of Gonaives
This is a view of the National 1 leading into the south end of Gonaives. The road is under construction to elevate it above just such flood waters...but it's not finished.
No Contact with Luc as of 11:30am
FYI No contact with Luc Joseph as of this morning cell towers are out of service, the best report I can get is 10 dead in Gonaives.
Excerpts from article by: JONATHAN M. KATZ: Associated Press Writer
A day earlier, Hanna added to the misery in Haiti, a country still recovering from drenching by Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Fay in the past 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 torrential rains.
Families screamed for help from rooftops Tuesday in a flooded city as U.N. peacekeepers and rescue convoys tried in vain to reach them.
By Tuesday night, Hanna claimed 21 lives in Haiti, including 12 dead in the state containing the cutoff city of Gonaives, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste of the country's civil protection office in Port-au-Prince, the capital.
Iris Norsil, 20, managed to flee Gonaives on Haiti's western shore and told The Associated Press people there were isolated by muddy floodwaters as evening fell, seeking refuge on rooftops as wind gusts drove horizontal sheets of rain.
"They are screaming for help," Norsil said as a U.N. aid convoy tried unsuccessfully to drive into Gonaives, now surrounded by a virtual lake of floodwaters. A team of AP journalists accompanied the convoy.
Another convoy carrying Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis had to abandon efforts at getting into Gonaives when one of the cars was nearly swept away, said Julian Frantz, a Haitian police officer who was providing security for the group.
Floodwaters rose rapidly outside Gonaives, where Norsil and scores of other residents who abandoned the low-lying city shivered violently in soaked clothing, nervously eying the rushing, debris-clogged waters.
"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."
Those who could move clutched mattresses, chairs and other belongings as they slogged through waist-high floodwaters.
At 5 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Hanna's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph (95 kph), 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 the next few days.
Excerpts from article by: JONATHAN M. KATZ: Associated Press Writer
A day earlier, Hanna added to the misery in Haiti, a country still recovering from drenching by Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Fay in the past 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 torrential rains.
Families screamed for help from rooftops Tuesday in a flooded city as U.N. peacekeepers and rescue convoys tried in vain to reach them.
By Tuesday night, Hanna claimed 21 lives in Haiti, including 12 dead in the state containing the cutoff city of Gonaives, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste of the country's civil protection office in Port-au-Prince, the capital.
Iris Norsil, 20, managed to flee Gonaives on Haiti's western shore and told The Associated Press people there were isolated by muddy floodwaters as evening fell, seeking refuge on rooftops as wind gusts drove horizontal sheets of rain.
"They are screaming for help," Norsil said as a U.N. aid convoy tried unsuccessfully to drive into Gonaives, now surrounded by a virtual lake of floodwaters. A team of AP journalists accompanied the convoy.
Another convoy carrying Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis had to abandon efforts at getting into Gonaives when one of the cars was nearly swept away, said Julian Frantz, a Haitian police officer who was providing security for the group.
Floodwaters rose rapidly outside Gonaives, where Norsil and scores of other residents who abandoned the low-lying city shivered violently in soaked clothing, nervously eying the rushing, debris-clogged waters.
"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."
Those who could move clutched mattresses, chairs and other belongings as they slogged through waist-high floodwaters.
At 5 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Hanna's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph (95 kph), 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 the next few days.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Reuters Report
Severe flooding hits Haitian city of Gonaives
02 Sep 2008 14:42:22 GMT 02 Sep 2008 14:42:22 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove
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Source: Reuters
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Heavy rains triggered by Tropical Storm Hanna triggered severe flooding in the Haitian city of Gonaives, where thousands died four years ago during a similar catastrophe, the head of the Caribbean country's civil protection agency said on Tuesday.
"The city is flooded and there are parts where the water gets to 2 metres (6.5 ft)," said civil protection director Alta Jean-Baptiste. "A lot of people have been climbing onto the tops of their houses since last night to escape the flooding."
By Tuesday morning there had only been a report of one death, Jean-Baptiste said. Mudslides and similar flooding caused in 2004 by Tropical Storm Jeanne killed around 3,000 people in Gonaives. (Reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva, Editing by) news ## for search indexer, do not remove -->
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02 Sep 2008 14:42:22 GMT 02 Sep 2008 14:42:22 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove
-->
Source: Reuters
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Heavy rains triggered by Tropical Storm Hanna triggered severe flooding in the Haitian city of Gonaives, where thousands died four years ago during a similar catastrophe, the head of the Caribbean country's civil protection agency said on Tuesday.
"The city is flooded and there are parts where the water gets to 2 metres (6.5 ft)," said civil protection director Alta Jean-Baptiste. "A lot of people have been climbing onto the tops of their houses since last night to escape the flooding."
By Tuesday morning there had only been a report of one death, Jean-Baptiste said. Mudslides and similar flooding caused in 2004 by Tropical Storm Jeanne killed around 3,000 people in Gonaives. (Reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva, Editing by) news ## for search indexer, do not remove -->
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Update 3:30pm
Haiti blasted by third deadly tropical storm in under three weeks
September 2, 2008 1pm
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) — Ten people were killed as Hanna lashed the north of Haiti Tuesday, the third deadly tropical storm to unleash its wrath on the impoverished Caribbean nation in under three weeks.
Haiti's third largest city, Gonaives, was under water, and officials pleaded for help in a region still traumatized by flooding from Tropical Storm Jeanne four years ago that killed more than 3,000 people.
"The situation in Gonaives is extremely urgent. I appeal for help," said Stephen Moise, mayor of the city of 300,000, 152 kilometers (94 miles) north of Port-au-Prince.
Jeanne's driving rains in the northern mountains of Haiti caused severe flooding and mudslides in the Artibonite region, especially in Gonaives. The storm killed 3,006 people in Haiti, with 2,826 of those in Gonaives.
"Practically the whole city is flooded, there is water everywhere. The water is rising in some areas to more than two meters (six feet)," Moise told AFP by telephone.
"The situation is critical today, it can be compared with what happened four years ago," Moise said.
Gonaives residents reached by telephone said floodwaters had reached the ceilings of some homes, forcing inhabitants to seek safety on the roof.
"I have seen about 10 bodies floating in the flooded streets of the city," Ernst Dorfeuille of the Gonaives police told AFP by phone.
"I don't know how long we will stay alive," a clearly panicked father, Germain Michelet, told AFP. "If we have to go another night in these conditions, there will not be a lot of survivors."
The latest devastation came as Haiti was still reeling from Hurricane Gustav, which killed 77 people and left eight others missing after barreling by the south of the hemisphere's most impoverished country only a week ago.
And only two weeks ago Tropical Storm Fay sparked flooding that left about 40 people dead.
Flooding in hardscrabble Haiti is a persistent problem. Its force is felt in part due to Haiti's mountainous geography. And deforestation -- as Haitians cut down trees and bushes as fuel for cooking fires -- exacerbates the flooding disasters.
Hanna lost some wind strength and was downgraded to a tropical storm Tuesday with driving rains that could spark deadly flooding in Haiti and eastern Cuba, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami warned.
With Hanna packing sustained winds of 70 miles (110 kilometers) per hour, it was expected to churn on a track taking it over the southeastern Bahamas Tuesday and the central Bahamas late Tuesday and Wednesday, the NHC said at 1500 GMT.
It said Hanna could dump up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) in the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands, and up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) in the central Bahamas.
"Rainfall amounts of two to four inches with maximum amounts of up to eight inches (20 centimeters) are expected over the mountainous terrain of eastern Cuba and northern portions of Hispaniola (shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic) where these rains could cause life-threatening mudslides and flash flooding," the NHC warned.
Hanna could regain hurricane Wednesday or Thursday, the NHC added.
Officials here said some 15,000 Haitian families were affected by Gustav, which leveled some 3,000 dwellings and damaged another 11,458.
At least 77 people died in Haiti after it was hit by Gustav, which blasted Louisiana with powerful winds and rain as a Category Two hurricane on Monday. Gustav later weakened as it passed overland and was downgraded to a tropical storm.
Gustav killed a total of more than 100 people as it tore across the Caribbean and into the United States.
September 2, 2008 1pm
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) — Ten people were killed as Hanna lashed the north of Haiti Tuesday, the third deadly tropical storm to unleash its wrath on the impoverished Caribbean nation in under three weeks.
Haiti's third largest city, Gonaives, was under water, and officials pleaded for help in a region still traumatized by flooding from Tropical Storm Jeanne four years ago that killed more than 3,000 people.
"The situation in Gonaives is extremely urgent. I appeal for help," said Stephen Moise, mayor of the city of 300,000, 152 kilometers (94 miles) north of Port-au-Prince.
Jeanne's driving rains in the northern mountains of Haiti caused severe flooding and mudslides in the Artibonite region, especially in Gonaives. The storm killed 3,006 people in Haiti, with 2,826 of those in Gonaives.
"Practically the whole city is flooded, there is water everywhere. The water is rising in some areas to more than two meters (six feet)," Moise told AFP by telephone.
"The situation is critical today, it can be compared with what happened four years ago," Moise said.
Gonaives residents reached by telephone said floodwaters had reached the ceilings of some homes, forcing inhabitants to seek safety on the roof.
"I have seen about 10 bodies floating in the flooded streets of the city," Ernst Dorfeuille of the Gonaives police told AFP by phone.
"I don't know how long we will stay alive," a clearly panicked father, Germain Michelet, told AFP. "If we have to go another night in these conditions, there will not be a lot of survivors."
The latest devastation came as Haiti was still reeling from Hurricane Gustav, which killed 77 people and left eight others missing after barreling by the south of the hemisphere's most impoverished country only a week ago.
And only two weeks ago Tropical Storm Fay sparked flooding that left about 40 people dead.
Flooding in hardscrabble Haiti is a persistent problem. Its force is felt in part due to Haiti's mountainous geography. And deforestation -- as Haitians cut down trees and bushes as fuel for cooking fires -- exacerbates the flooding disasters.
Hanna lost some wind strength and was downgraded to a tropical storm Tuesday with driving rains that could spark deadly flooding in Haiti and eastern Cuba, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami warned.
With Hanna packing sustained winds of 70 miles (110 kilometers) per hour, it was expected to churn on a track taking it over the southeastern Bahamas Tuesday and the central Bahamas late Tuesday and Wednesday, the NHC said at 1500 GMT.
It said Hanna could dump up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) in the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands, and up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) in the central Bahamas.
"Rainfall amounts of two to four inches with maximum amounts of up to eight inches (20 centimeters) are expected over the mountainous terrain of eastern Cuba and northern portions of Hispaniola (shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic) where these rains could cause life-threatening mudslides and flash flooding," the NHC warned.
Hanna could regain hurricane Wednesday or Thursday, the NHC added.
Officials here said some 15,000 Haitian families were affected by Gustav, which leveled some 3,000 dwellings and damaged another 11,458.
At least 77 people died in Haiti after it was hit by Gustav, which blasted Louisiana with powerful winds and rain as a Category Two hurricane on Monday. Gustav later weakened as it passed overland and was downgraded to a tropical storm.
Gustav killed a total of more than 100 people as it tore across the Caribbean and into the United States.
Storm Hits Haiti
Dear friends
I received a desperate call for prayer, from Haiti this morning from my friend and National Pastor Luc Joseph living in Gonaives Haiti. At the time 7:50am, he was at our Orphanage trying to get 25 children to safety from flood waters.
Gonaives is located in a runoff area and in 2004 when Hurricane Jean hit 3000 people died as a result of the flooding.
Would you please pray that God will bring the Children and Luc’s family to safety. And help them to minister to those who may be devastated by this Hurricane.
If you look at the news channels, you will find little if any of this information, partially due to the isolation but partly due to or narcissism of our society, so concerned about our own situation that we rarely see people reach beyond our own concerns.
Don’t let this be only a blip on your radar screen. The prayers of the rightous availeth much.
I H S,
Max R Wright
World Renewal International –Haiti
I received a desperate call for prayer, from Haiti this morning from my friend and National Pastor Luc Joseph living in Gonaives Haiti. At the time 7:50am, he was at our Orphanage trying to get 25 children to safety from flood waters.
Gonaives is located in a runoff area and in 2004 when Hurricane Jean hit 3000 people died as a result of the flooding.
Would you please pray that God will bring the Children and Luc’s family to safety. And help them to minister to those who may be devastated by this Hurricane.
If you look at the news channels, you will find little if any of this information, partially due to the isolation but partly due to or narcissism of our society, so concerned about our own situation that we rarely see people reach beyond our own concerns.
Don’t let this be only a blip on your radar screen. The prayers of the rightous availeth much.
I H S,
Max R Wright
World Renewal International –Haiti
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