S. Fla. Haitian Community Worries For Island After Emily
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CBS4) – Sheets of rain and strong gusty winds from Tropical Storm Emily whipped hundreds of thousands of Haitians still living and tents and flimsy shanties in and round the country's capital city.
Most of the heavier rain fell to the north of Port au Prince, damaging homes and a cholera treatment center, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, the country's civil defense director. There were no reports of any deaths.
At 11 a.m., the center of storm, which was packing maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, was nudging to the west-northwest at about 5 mph. Forecasters said as it continues its sluggish trek it will dump torrential rains across a country where more than 600,000 people still live without shelter after last year's earthquake.
Francois Prophete, who was shored up the corrugated-metal roof of his one-room cinder block home in the hills southeast of Port-au-Prince, said most people had few options in a nation where the vast majority are desperately poor.
"We can't afford to do much," he said.
Local authorities urged people to conserve food and safeguard their belongings.
David Preux, head of mission for the International Organization for Migration in the southern city of Jacmel, said that he expected conditions to worsen during the night.
"The problem is when people wait until the last minute to evacuate," Preux said.
Although the center of the storm seemed likely to miss most of the island, intense rain still posed a threat to both nations, said Diana Goeller, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
"This storm has a lot of heavy rainfall with it," Goeller said. "So in those mountainous areas, there could be very dangerous, life-threatening mudslides or flash floods."
"We've pre-positioned food in 35 areas all across Haiti. We've put food in place, we have trucks also in place," said Stephanie Tremblay with the World Food Programme.
John Cangialosi, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center, said up to 20 inches of rain was possible in isolated high-elevation areas. That is enough to cause serious problems in a country prone to catastrophic flooding. A slow-moving storm in June triggered mudslides and floods in Haiti and killed at least 28 people.
"And if something like that happens again, we don't know what to do. And we need a lot of help," said Annette Decius, who spent Thursday afternoon praying at the Notre Dame d'Haiti Catholic Church in Little Haiti.
"Over a million people have been displaced and a lot of them are living in these tent cities," said Paul Fisher, who is the Pan American Development Foundation, a group which is working to take the people who live in tent cities into rebuilt communities, hoping to prevent any more tragedies during natural disasters, like Thursday's storm.
"It's making a bad situation, worse," said Fisher.
To help the Hard Hats for Haiti campaign, which is working to move the people who live in tents into rebuilt communities. Call 1-877.572.4484 and say you're calling to support Haiti or visit www.padf.org.
