Death toll rises to 42 as Haiti struggles to recover from floods

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AP):

The death toll from the heavy floods that hit Haiti over the weekend has risen to 42, with another 11 people missing, the authorities said on Monday.

At least 85 people are injured, and more than 13,600 homes were flooded, forcing people to evacuate, according to Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency.

The rains pelted Haiti’s western, northwestern, southeastern and central regions, officials said.

The weather has since improved, but many crops were damaged amid a spike in starvation, and people are trying to find temporary shelters after the rain turned roads into rushing rivers of brown water.

The World Food Programme said tens of thousands of people have been affected, with the greatest damage reported in Port-au-Prince’s metropolitan area and in Haiti’s western region.

“A significant weather-induced event of this level so early in the hurricane season … raises concerns about the ability to provide a sustained response should extreme weather incidents continue to occur,” the agency warned.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry has said he has asked for international help. In a statement providing a provisional assessment of the situation in the French-speaking Caricom country, Henry said the rains have caused several rivers to overflow their banks resulting in floods and landslides in many areas.