5 dead in floods

pulse

November 17, 2017 7:32 AM

Floods caused by two days of torrential rains have left five people dead in Haiti and more than 10,000 homes inundated, authorities said Thursday.

Among the victims was a woman in her fifties and a three-year-old girl who were swept away as they tried to cross a rain-swollen river in Port-de-Paix in the northwest.

The body of a man in his sixties also was recovered in the same region, the civil protection agency said in a statement giving a preliminary summary of the toll.

In southern Haiti, a man drowned on the island of Vache and a two-year-old died in flooding in Cayes, Haiti's third largest city.

Cayes was particularly hard hit: the city's assistant mayor said more than 10,000 houses there were inundated.

Rescue workers reported that numerous roads were cut off in at least three of Haiti's 10 departments.

Jerry Chandler, Haiti's civil protection chief, called on people to exercise caution, warning that weather conditions would not improve before the weekend.

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