Port-au-Prince (EFE).- Tropical Storm Melissa, which is making its way through the Caribbean, has claimed its first life in Haiti, a country highly vulnerable to natural disasters and currently facing serious infrastructure problems.
Haiti’s Civil Protection Directorate (DPC) reported Thursday that a man died after a tree fell in the commune of Marigot, in the department of Sud-Est, while in Artibonite, north of the capital, five people were injured by flooding caused by heavy rains, which have also caused losses in the agricultural sector.
Flooding has been reported in the towns of Saint Louis du Nord and Anse à Foleur, while several rivers have overflowed in neighborhoods of Port-de-Paix, according to emergency authorities.
Although the storm’s path and strength remain uncertain, Melissa could become a hurricane within the next 72 hours, the DPC warned.
In its most recent report today, the US National Hurricane Center warned of the storm’s strengthening, which would become a major hurricane over the weekend and bring rain to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica, in addition to being of concern to Cuba.
The storm was located 345 kilometers southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and 440 km southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Limited response capacity
Storm Melissa finds Haiti at a particularly delicate moment in the midst of a prolonged multidimensional crisis, aggravated by violence from armed gangs, which this year alone has displaced 1.4 million people, thousands of whom live in overcrowded makeshift camps with precarious sanitary conditions.
For this reason, and given the lack of resources to address the phenomenon, Civil Protection is focusing on raising awareness among the population using social media and state television to urge caution and solidarity.
Mountains of garbage can be seen on the streets of Port-au-Prince, meaning the rains could cause significant flooding, with the drainage system severely deficient and clogged with debris.
Specialists also warn that the rains could spread the current cholera outbreak, which has killed 17 people since mid-September.
Death and destruction from natural disasters
Hurricanes and tropical storms in Haiti have caused hundreds of deaths across the country since October 2016, when Hurricane Matthew left 573 dead and thousands homeless.
This was just six years after the deadly January 2010 earthquake, which killed some 300,000 people, left nearly 1.5 million homeless, and collapsed much of the Caribbean nation’s infrastructure.
In September 2017, Hurricane Irma left one dead, and Maria three more, while in August 2020, Laura left 31 dead and eight missing.
Hurricane Grace caused at least one death on the island in August 2021, although the total death toll was difficult to determine because the event occurred three days after another earthquake that left at least 1,941 dead and 9,900 injured.
Deaths in Haiti are primarily due to natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, but also to human disasters caused by armed gangs.According to the UN, more than 16,000 people have been killed in Haiti due to violence linked to criminal gangs since 2022. EFE
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