Corpse in street, no aid; anger grows in affected Haiti town

dimeji akinloye

October 7, 2016 2:19 AM

Dozens of men and women in the town of Cavaillon gathered by the corpse, which they said washed up when a river burst its banks.

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A lifeless body caked in blood and mud lies in the street for days, and promised food and water supplies fail to materialize. Desperation turned to anger in southwest Haiti on Thursday as residents grappled with the aftermath of

Dozens of men and women in the town of Cavaillon gathered by the corpse, which they said washed up when a river burst its banks as the hurricane hit on Tuesday. The male victim was one of at least 261 storm deaths in Haiti.

"There is a man on the road. The state is not taking its responsibility," said Ashley Dody, a resident of Cavaillon, which was cut off by flood waters until Thursday, leaving locals with little food or drinking water.

"Where is the Haitian government, where are they?" one woman yelled. One man shouted, "We are hungry now" as the town mayor tried to calm tempers and peacekeepers from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti looked on.

The hurricane hit Cavaillon with winds up to 145 mph (230 kph) at about midnight on Monday, but it wasn't until the next afternoon that flood waters forced people to seek higher ground in the hills behind the town, said resident Roosevelt Esperance.

Into the night, men from the town helped women and children cross roads that had turned into raging brown rivers.

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When they came down on Wednesday morning they found destruction. Houses in the town have been reduced to rubble. In one, a television and stereo system could be seen poking through chunks of concrete and thick mud, along with a suitcase full of sodden school books.

"Water, food, clothing for people in dire need, we need all of that," said Esperance, who said he found the unidentified body. "He came to seek shelter in the mountains like everyone else, but he fell."

Nine people died in the town, including at least three children, the mayor said. In the distance, a coffin for another victim was carried away.

dimeji akinloye