A natural disaster comes once again to mourn Haiti. Heavy rains fell on the country during the weekend, and left at least 42 dead and 11 missing according to Monday’s civil protection report.
Bad weather has caused major flooding and landslides in seven of the country’s ten departments, already plunged into a humanitarian crisis fueled by gang violence. According to the UN, which counts for its part 15 dead and 8 missing, the rains affected 37,000 people and caused 13,400 displacements.
Residents “at bay”
The city of Léogane, located 40 km southwest of the capital Port-au-Prince, was particularly affected, with damage caused by three flooded rivers. At least 20 people died there, according to the first relief report. “The residents are desperate. They lost everything. The waters ravaged their fields, washed away their cattle,” said the mayor of Léogane, Ernson Henry. Thousands of families are affected in his town, he also said, stressing that the population urgently needed food, drinking water and medicine.
These floods also caused extensive material damage across the country, destroying hundreds of homes and damaging several roads. “Although it is not a cyclone or a tropical storm, the damage observed in the affected areas is considerable,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, UN coordinator of humanitarian action. in Haiti.
The hurricane season is just beginning
Prime Minister Ariel Henry activated the National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC) in response. According to Ernson Henry, carrying out work on the watersheds of the rivers could have made it possible to limit the damage in Léogane.
This heavy toll highlights the country’s vulnerability to natural disasters and failures in terms of risk reduction, while the hurricane season is just beginning. Even before these floods, Haiti was already facing a severe humanitarian crisis, with nearly half of its population in need of humanitarian assistance, a figure that has doubled in just five years, according to the UN.