Haiti flood toll tops 300 [View All]

[seemslikeadream]

Mon 20 September, 2004 19:17

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - More than 300 people have died in Haiti from flooding and mudslides triggered by Tropical Storm Jeanne, according to aid workers who said half of the northern city of Gonaives was still underwater.

"We have counted 250 bodies at the hospital morgue in Gonaives," U.N. spokesman Toussaint Congo-Doudou said after heavy rains sent a wall of muddy water crashing through northern towns over the weekend.

U.N. peacekeepers had unconfirmed reports of another 150 dead in Gonaives, said U.N. coordinator Adama Guindo.

The northern city was the birthplace of Haiti's independence from France 200 years ago and it was where an armed revolt began this year that led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Forty-seven people were also confirmed killed in the northwest province, around the town of Port-de-Paix, said Henry Max Thelus, a government official. Eight deaths were recorded elsewhere, bringing the total confirmed toll to 305.

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