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 -->
AlertNet news is provided by
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 -->
AlertNet news is provided by
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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